


Book 2: Long Odds

by DevinCx, piratenami



Series: Knights of the Old Republic: Outcasts [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Eventual Romance, F/M, Gen, Heist, Implied/Referenced Torture, Non-Explicit Sex, Non-Graphic Violence, Original Character-centric, Slow Burn, Space Opera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-04-29 04:31:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 54,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14465073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevinCx/pseuds/DevinCx, https://archiveofourown.org/users/piratenami/pseuds/piratenami
Summary: Renn Falani thought he could escape his past. He left everything behind when he made a new life for himself aboard the Wanderer.Now Renn's secrets are catching up with him, and everything starts to spiral out of control.His pursuit of the slicer Gaman, who betrayed them a year earlier, brings him to the attention of a powerful criminal organization called the Exchange. And the Exchange needs Renn back to finish something he started six years ago.As past and present collide, the Wanderer's crew will have to band together with new allies to pull off a dangerous mission and protect one of their own.





	1. Liana

_-Six years ago-_

"Captain Liana, we are picking up a life pod distress signal."

Liana turned slightly in the pilot's chair to look back at her protocol droid, B4-K3, who was manning the ship's sensors and communications from a control panel a little further back in the cockpit. A few feet away, plugged into the wall, the squat astromech droid, T5-E4, interjected a few beeps of his own.

The two droids were new enough to her that she wasn't entirely comfortable with their presence or their idiosyncrasies yet. These two seemed a bit more... sentient... than the simple housekeeping and menial labor droids she'd had contact with on the space station or back home. But she needed more than a crew of one to fly and maintain her small freighter; no single being could be everywhere they needed to be to keep up with a ship this size alone.

"Is there any sign of the ship or wreckage it came from?" she asked.

"No wreckage and no other ships detected in the area, Captain," B4 said. "Only a single escape pod with one life sign on board."

She considered what this could mean. Had it been jettisoned on purpose, or perhaps due to an accident or malfunction? Had someone been abandoned by his or her ship? If there was a life sign on board, then the person in the pod would need help, regardless of the circumstance. "Can we get close enough to bring it on board?"

B4 was quiet for a moment. She wondered if he was in silent communication with his astromech partner, or perhaps doing his own set of complex calculations. "Yes, I believe so, Captain," he finally said.

Liana settled back in her chair. "Then let's do so. Send the coordinates to my station, please."

It didn't take long to maneuver her freighter close enough to bring the escape pod into visual range. It looked so lonely and isolated floating out there in the dark, only big enough for one being inside. Liana kept a blaster with her, and she knew how to use it, of course, but she hoped whomever was on board was not hostile.

"Are you sure you can do this?" she asked. A series of beeps and boops came over the ship's intercom. The little astromech had relocated down to the cargo hold, where he could control the cargo arm normally used to load and unload the ship. She could not be down there without a breathing suit while the cargo bay was open to space to retrieve the life-pod. So she would have to put more trust into her droids.

She understood enough of T5's beeps to recognize an affirmative. "Very well. Let me know when the pod is secure and the doors are closed. Do not open it until I arrive."

Another series of beeps. Liana closed her eyes, rubbing at them with one hand. Oxygen levels in the pod were low. Whoever was inside was likely unconscious. Maybe even dying. She would need to prepare for the worst.

"Captain?" asked B4, sounding concerned. "May I be of assistance?"

"Leave the ship on autopilot for now. Ready the medbay to receive a patient," she said. She pushed herself up out of the pilot's chair and headed toward the bridge door.

Liana had nearly reached the cargo hold when another series of beeps over the ship's intercom informed her that her astromech had resealed the cargo bay doors and cycled the air, so that it would be safe for her to enter.

She found him already working to open the escape pod when she stepped inside. "Didn't I tell you to wait for me?" 

He beeped at her urgently. She checked the readout on the nearby terminal. Oxygen inside the pod was almost depleted, and the life signs were weakening. 

"Very well, open it quickly."

Her droid squealed and beeped again. The pod's hatch sprung open. Hand on her blaster, Liana stepped closer to peer inside.

She had thought she was prepared for anything, but she had not been expecting to see what appeared to be a child collapsed on the floor of the escape pod. The figure was hunched so that she could not see their face. Blood pooled on the floor around the prone form.

She whirled back toward the astromech. "Was there anything toxic on the scanner? Any contagion?" 

He beeped an oddly disappointed-sounding negative. 

"Very well. I will carry the child to the medbay. Continue your examination of the pod and see if you can find anything else." 

An affirmative beep.

Crouching down, Liana bent over and carefully slipped her arms underneath the injured person. She couldn't see any obvious wounds from this angle, but she knew that she needed to move carefully and deliberately to avoid further damage. She lifted the child slowly. A male child, she realized, now that she could see him more clearly. Bruises blossomed on his face and arms, as well as a handful of cuts that she she could see. His clothing was torn and bloody. He was lighter than she was expecting.

She brought him to the medbay and laid him down gently on the bed there. She stared down at him in curiosity. His breathing was still slow but had steadied now that he was back in normal oxygen. That was one relief, at least. He was a dark-haired human child... no, an adolescent, she thought. He was gawky in that way that near-adult children of many humanoid species were, thin and long-limbed, not fully grown into himself yet. Still young but near maturity, by her best guess.

How did a human child wind up floating in space, injured and alone in an escape pod?

"What am I supposed to do with this?" she asked, touching his hair lightly.

"Captain, I do have a rudimentary database of medical needs of various species. I believe I will be able to stabilize the injuries, if you will please excuse me."

She chuckled. "I didn't mean that literally, B4. Ah, never mind. Do what you can, please." She stepped back as her droid moved around the bed to the medical computer beside it.

"Of course, Captain."

Liana watched the droid shuffle around for a few moments. He seemed to have things under control. She looked down at her hands, alarmed to see that the boy's blood had smeared onto her fur and claws when she'd picked him up. She quickly washed herself in the medbay basin and dried off with the towel hanging nearby, her teeth bared in a grimace.

Really, what was she going to do about this?

Liana settled onto the bench along the wall to watch B4 tend to his patient, with the help of the medbay computer. She wasn't sure what she else could do here, but she didn't want to leave. She wanted to be there when the boy woke up, so that she could reassure him. B4 wasn't exactly a people person, and she didn't think waking up to a droid hovering over him would be terribly comforting to the boy.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed before B4's voice startled her back to awareness. "Captain, your guest appears to be regaining consciousness."

"What?" She hadn't meant to fall asleep. She must have been more tired than she'd thought. She rubbed her eyes, trying to shake off her impromptu nap. "What's his condition?" she asked, rising from the bench.

"He has a broken wrist and two broken ribs, which have been treated and braced. There was no major internal bleeding. Other injuries include several cuts and contusions which have been cleaned and sealed. I estimate his full recovery will take several weeks."

She nodded. "Thank you, B4. Can you go monitor the bridge, while I stay with the child? I want to be sure we're still on course."

"The autopilot is still engaged and is reporting no issues."

She sighed. She sometimes forgot that subtlety did not work on droids. "Please. I want to speak to him alone when he wakes up."

"Of course, Captain." Liana watched the droid shuffle out the door, then moved over to the bed to examine the boy. His clothes had been torn and bloody when she picked him up, but now he had been changed into one of the simple shifts they kept in the medbay. B4 had bandaged the child's wounds neatly and efficiently.

She was studying his face as he awoke. She saw the confusion in his eyes as they desperately darted around the room. His gaze found her and he froze, eyes wide. She reached out a hand to stroke his hair again, hoping the gesture would be soothing. Instead, he scrambled up into a sitting position, shoving her hand away weakly. His expression — wide, fierce, hollow eyes — concerned her.

She held her hands up, and took a step away from the bed, so he would not feel threatened. "It's all right," she said. "You're safe now."

He opened his mouth, coughed, attempted to croak out something but it was not intelligible.

"Here, have some water." She handed him a cup from the table nearby. He drank greedily. "Take your time," she said. "I promise you, I am not going to hurt you."

He stared at her.

"Can you understand me?" she asked.

"Yes. " He coughed again.

She took the empty cup from him, refilled it at the basin, then brought it back. He drained it a second time. She watched him, perplexed. Certainly, he was terrified. Injured, far from wherever he had called home. But also angry and defensive, perhaps out of fear as well.

She sat back down in the chair by the bed, so that she could look him in the eye without towering over him or intimidating him.

"Can you tell me your name? Where did you come from?"

He remained silent, but his eyes still darted around the room. This was going to be more difficult than she thought. She had dealt with humans before, but she knew nothing of human children. He had very likely never seen one of her race before either; the Trianii rarely traveled far from their home systems. How could she put him at ease?

"My name is Liana," she said, hoping having a name would help. "I am the owner of this ship. I found you in an escape pod and brought you on board."

That finally got a reaction from him. "Did you find another escape pod?" he asked, an urgency in his voice.

She shook her head. "No, there was only yours. We didn't see any debris or anything to indicate a ship or another pod had been destroyed, though." He nodded, but said nothing else. "You were in bad shape when we took you out of the escape pod," she said, hoping to get more from him. "We've treated your wounds as best we could, but... can you tell me what happened to you?"

"No," he said. She almost didn't hear him. He had raised both arms now so that he could see the bandages that B4 had applied to the cuts on his arms, and the brace on his left wrist, the one that was broken. She could not afford a kolto tank or anything so sophisticated, so he would heal more slowly, but he would heal.

He shook his head, then seemed to think better of the gesture. He cringed in pain as he touched the bruises and the cut on his forehead.

"Does it hurt badly? We should have something for the pain...."

"No," the boy said. "I'm fine." His arms dropped to his sides limply, as if he'd run out of the energy to move them. The empty cup fell from his hand. He winced at the sound as it hit the floor.

Liana watched him for a moment longer, considering his reactions. "You can rest here as long as you need to," she said. "There are only two droids aboard the ship, aside from me. No one will bother you." She rose and rescued the cup from the floor, setting it back on the table. "Are you hungry? I should have something safe for humans in the stores."

He hesitated, then finally said, "Yes. Please." Then, after a moment, "I'm sorry."

Liana chuckled. "For what? I chose to bring your pod on board because I wanted to help."

Silence again. She tried not to sigh too loudly as she made her way out of the medbay. She really needed to know more about human children. "I'll be right back with some food for you."

***

Frantically, he took stock of his situation as the woman walked away. He was alive. Hurt, but still alive. They hadn't come back to find him.

They hadn't come back to kill him.

His father hadn't come back for him either. If his father was even still alive.

He didn't remember getting into the escape pod. Maybe they had dumped him there, left him for dead, but it was more likely his father's intervention.

A stranger had found him instead, and saved him. He didn't think she was involved. There was no reason for her to be involved. 

Unless she was lying to him. But he didn't think she was. He had a good sense for when people were lying. She seemed like a decent person.

She was also armed. He'd noted the blaster at her waist. Good. She wasn't stupid then.

He didn't want to get her, whoever she was, involved in his mess. His father's mess.

No, it had gone past mess into full-blown disaster.

Maybe he could get out of this without losing anything more. Not that he had much else left. Nothing but his life.

He couldn't go back home. They'd find him. They'd watch what remained of his family. It was the first place they'd look. He didn't know what they would do, but it wouldn't be good.

He needed a plan.

No, what he really needed was a new identity.

He might have a chance, if he could lay low for awhile and avoid their notice. But he would have to become someone else. He couldn't go back to his old life. If he was dead, they wouldn't have any reason to go after anyone he cared about.

In order to invent a new life, he was going to need access to a computer, and fast, before they came back to finish him off.

Which meant he needed this woman to trust him.

***

Liana returned to the medbay with a few wrapped ration bars, to find the boy still sitting on the bed, an intense frown on his face. "I'm sorry that this is all we have that is safe for humans. Are you up to eating these?"

He started at the sound of her voice, then winced. Liana cringed a little in sympathy.

"I think so," the boy said after a moment, watching with a wary expression as she set the rations down on the table beside the bed. She took the cup over to the basin to rinse and refill it with more water. He picked up a ration bar, fumbled a bit with tearing the wrapping open one-handed, but finally managed to break a piece off and get it into his mouth. Liana set down a couple of painkillers next to the water, despite his earlier denial.

"Do you need anything else?" she asked. He wolfed down one bar, and reached for a second. She wondered how long it had been since he ate. He paused, then shook his head. Still giving her the mostly silent treatment, it seemed.

Liana had so many questions about what had happened to bring him here, and in this state. But now was not the time for an interrogation. Today had taken a lot out of her; she could only imagine how _he_ was feeling right now. Honestly, she couldn't see herself acting much differently, in his situation. Anyone would be exhausted, scared and disoriented. "I will come back later, when you've rested. There's a communicator there, if you do need anything else." She nodded toward the wall panel.

"Renn," the boy said, before she could leave.

"Excuse me?" She looked back down at him.

He met her eyes. "My name. It's Renn."

Liana held out one clawed hand, with what she hoped was an encouraging smile. He hesitated, then took it gingerly. "It's nice to meet you, Renn," she said, clasping his hand gently for a moment before releasing it. "Get some rest. We will speak again when you're feeling better."

***

Renn watched Liana leave the medbay. It wasn't his real name, though it was close enough to his childhood nickname that he'd answer to it without having to think about it. It was a first step, anyway. Having a name meant existing outside of his old life.

He ripped open another ration bar, using his teeth to help in lieu of his weak and painful left hand. He eyed the pills that she'd left behind, then grabbed them too. He didn't think she'd have gone through all this effort just to poison or drug him. She seemed too... honest. Instinct said she wouldn't hurt him. If she'd really wanted him dead, she'd had all the opportunities she needed. She could've just left him in the pod to die, or killed him while he was unconscious.

Besides, he really was in a lot of pain. It made it hard to think straight. She was right. He needed to rest. But first, he needed to be sure of his surroundings. He needed time to get his own story straight, to find a way to answer the inevitable questions that she would have about him. Paranoia had kept him alive this far. But he wasn't going to get much further without knowledge and a plan.

He downed the painkillers with a gulp of water, then gnawed on the second ration bar. The medbay was not a large space, an alcove with a sealable archway, the bed he was lying on taking up most of the center of it. There were a couple of chairs and a small table nearby in the medbay area itself, plus a bench built in to the wall opposite the entryway. The room outside looked like a general living and eating area. It contained a table, a small couch, and a couple more benches, as well as what looked like a simple galley off in one corner. He heard the familiar constant rumble of ship engines. Probably a small cargo ship.

He wasn't quite sure what to make of the woman, Liana, yet. He'd never seen one of her people before. The way she spoke to him was gentle, and her eyes were... kind. Kind didn't always mean much, but maybe in her case it was true. She'd gone out of her way to save his life. He probably wouldn't have done the same, if he'd been in her position. He thought that maybe he could take her words at face-value, at least for now.

He looked down at himself next. He had been stripped of his clothes, and was wearing a simple robe. He was past embarrassment at this point, although he did wonder if the woman had treated his injuries, or if she'd had her droids do it. Bandages wrapped neatly around both his forearms, with a brace on his left wrist. Unbidden, he remembered why, all in a rush.

_His arms came up automatically to protect his head and face as a tall man towered over him, holding a baton. He felt the kicks and the baton blows in his ribs, across his back. His arms. "Tell us, and the pain stops." A booted foot came down hard on his left wrist. A crunch. A shock of red hot rage._

For a moment, all he could do was hunch in on himself on the narrow bed, shaking uncontrollably. His teeth clenched, and he dropped what was left of the ration bar as his hand spasmed.

When he was able to move again and the shaking subsided, he found himself staring at his arms, his wrist, through tears. They could have ruined his hands. They could have destroyed everything. He hated being so helpless, useless, at the mercy of someone else. What he wanted to do more than anything was to throw the table into the nearest wall, to kick the bed over, something to express his frustration.

He didn't dare. He couldn't. He needed that woman to trust him, to let him stay. It might be the only chance he had right now.

He wiped at his eyes with his good hand, then carefully eased himself off the bed. His legs were shaky, but held him up. He wasn't hooked up to any machines or monitors. That was a relief. He felt binding bandages around his ribs, and a sharp pain as he moved that spoke of at least one broken rib. He felt like he had bruises all over, and his body just generally ached.

He found his old clothes, bloody and torn, tossed onto the bench on the side of the room. He quickly checked his belt. His old blaster was gone, of course; that had happened before the escape pod, when everything had gone sideways on the cruiser. Not that he would've had a chance to fight back, even with a weapon. He'd been outnumbered five to one. On the inside of the belt, though, was the small hidden slit that held a couple of emergency computer spikes. They seemed intact. That was good. At least he had something to work with.

He took note of the computer terminal in the wall of the main hold. He'd have to get in there later, when his head wasn't so fuzzy. He checked the doors in the larger room as well. One of the larger doors was locked, but the other opened for him. He wasn't locked in, wasn't a prisoner. That was awfully trusting of her.

A smaller door near the galley led to a refresher, which he used clumsily. Back in the medbay, he searched every unlocked storage compartment and drawer. More medical supplies, some more of the painkillers, bandages and medpacs. Pretty standard-issue stuff. He found a small vibroscalpel and kept hold of it. Better than nothing.

He came back to the table for the last ration bar, and choked it down, along with the rest of the water. The bed felt too exposed for sleep. Instead he stretched out on the bench along the side of the room. It was only there, with his back to the wall, facing the entryway and clutching his makeshift weapon with his good hand, that he was able to fall asleep again.

***

Liana slept fitfully, and found herself waking up every hour or two, uneasy. After the first couple of times, she decided to go check on the boy. It might ease her mind a little, to see if he was resting comfortably. She grabbed a spare blanket just in case, and padded down to the medbay.

He was not in the bed. It took her a moment to locate him, sleeping on the bench against the wall instead. He had one of the medbay vibroscalpels clutched in one hand. Safety where he could find it, she supposed. She couldn't fault him for protecting himself.

As quietly as she could, she laid the blanket on the bench at his feet, then left him alone.

***

The next morning, at least according to the computer time — in the dark of space, Liana didn't usually put much meaning in night or day — she went to check on her guest again.

To her surprise, she found Renn sitting in front of the computer terminal outside the medbay, with the blanket draped over himself like a robe. His good hand flew across the display rapidly.

"What are you doing?" she asked, pausing in the doorway to take in the scene.

He didn't even look up. "Your computer security is terrible. You should get your credits back from whoever installed this."

Liana went over to the galley to retrieve more ration bars for him, and hot cups of caf for both of them. "It is what came with the ship when I purchased it," she said, bemused. This was different behavior. What had changed? 

"Ugh, stock. No wonder it's trash."

She set her burden down on the table near him, and sat nearby so she could watch. She couldn't quite figure out what he was doing. "Well, you certainly have made yourself at home. Please don't destroy any crucial systems."

That got his attention. His hand dropped away from the terminal. "Sorry. I was just- I was checking... news...." Renn stopped short, as if he didn't know how to explain himself either. "I just wanted some information. I didn't mess with the ship's systems, just got a Holonet connection routed in here."

"You could have asked first." He'd gone quiet again. Was he intimidated by her? "I hope that I didn't scare you too much," Liana said, more gently. "I know it must be disconcerting to wake up in a strange place."

Renn shrugged. "It's better than where I was."

She considered that. Did he mean the life pod, or where he had come from before that? "You were running out of oxygen when we found you, as if you had been drifting for some time. How did you come to be there? Was your ship destroyed?"

"I ran away."

She watched him carefully, but said nothing, letting him continue his story even though she could tell it was not quite the truth.

"The crew on my ship caught me doing something they didn't like. Smuggling something against the rules. One of them wanted to make a point." He gestured to his bandaged and braced left arm.

She nodded, still waiting. He looked nervous.

"I... crawled into an escape pod and jettisoned right before they made a hyperspace jump. That way they'd be far away before they realized I was gone."

"I see. That seems foolish. If I had not been here to find you, you might have died."

Renn looked away from her. "Wasn't my smartest plan," he said, a bitterness to his tone. She wasn't sure if he was upset with her, or with himself.

"Well, you are safe here for now. I can hide you, if someone does come back for you." His story was flimsy, but it didn't matter much to her where the boy had come from. He was not safe there, if someone had beaten him. And they clearly had; some of those cuts and bruises might have been accidental injuries from the escape pod, but the breaks to his ribs and arm were not. Someone had deliberately hurt this child.

It made her angry, even though it wasn't her place, and not her business. Who would do such a thing to a child, no matter what he had done wrong? She hid her clenched fist at her side, taking a deep breath and whispering a silent prayer to her Goddess. She needed to be calm right now. It might alarm him to see her angry. She _would_ be calm.

To distract herself, Liana reached for the cup of caf, and handed it across to him. "We're heading toward Sennatt for a shipment and re-supply, but after that I can take you anywhere you need to go."

Renn took a cautious sip. His eyes never stopped moving, looking from her face, to the door, back to the cup, to the terminal. "I... don't really have anywhere to go anymore."

"You have no family or home?"

"No!" he said, with such vehemence in his voice that she sat back, startled. That had been something near panic, just for a moment.

"I see."

"I can work, if you want. Pay my own way."

She tilted her head at him. "Are you asking for a job?"

"I'm good with computers." He gestured to the terminal that he'd been using. "I can get into anything."

"I have two droids aboard," she said. "They are able to handle all the necessary systems."

"Droids can't do what I can do." He met her eyes. Liana could hear the genuine pride in his voice. This was something he thought was valuable.

"I believe you, I believe you." She smiled, despite herself. "But I do not normally need a computer expert on routine cargo runs."

"Then I can work on security, make this ship's systems impenetrable to other slicers. You'd be surprised what someone could get out of here, if they really made an effort. Financials, records of the people you've done business with, even every single place you've docked or landed. Someone could probably use it against you without much effort."

Liana hesitated. "I feel sorry for you, and I do want to help, but you are a stranger to me. How do I know I can trust you?" she asked finally.

She shook her head. As much as she wanted to, she could not offer him sanctuary here, this boy that she barely knew. He was not her cub, and she knew nothing about him. She had no reason to trust him, and he had no reason to trust her either. "You have sliced into _my_ ship's computer without asking. How do I know you will not take this information you found and use it against me? Or take my ship from me?"

Renn looked down, a guilty expression on his face. "I hadn't even thought of that," he said. "I... needed to know. If you were safe."

"Safe?"

"No ties to the Exchange. Stuff like that."

What a strange world he came from, that this was a concern. Of course there were bad people in the galaxy, criminals and enemies who would hurt anyone to get what they wanted. That was why she went armed, after all. But what had this child seen?

She already knew the answer to that. His injuries spoke volumes as to what he had seen.

Her tail lashed a little in irritation. She didn't like being suspected as the type of person who would be involved with the Exchange, no matter how scared the child was. "If you have been checking up on me, then you should know that I am who I say I am. I am no criminal. I am not your enemy, whoever that may be."

"I know. I saw." He nodded. "Sorry, I needed to be sure."

She watched him. Renn looked down at his cup, unable to meet her eyes. "Very well. I accept your apology," Liana said. He didn't reply.

She sighed. "Listen, Renn. We can either choose to trust one another while we are traveling together, or we can choose to be suspicious and watch our backs the whole time. I know which way I would prefer." She offered her hand again.

Cautiously, he took it. He looked up at her face. "Can... can I stay?"

"At least until we get to Sennatt."

His expression turned wary. "Can I still use the computer?"

"Yes, just don't break anything." Liana chuckled. 

"I can't possibly break this more," he said. "Your system is absolute garbage. Give me a few days and I'll get some extra safeguards installed. You could really use some upgrades, though." Renn turned back to the console and started tapping away again with his right hand, the left tucked against his body. He seemed to be flipping through Holonet news sites, although what he was looking for, she didn't know.

Liana found herself smiling. She really shouldn't encourage that attitude, but she liked that pride and intelligence in his voice. It was so much better than the suspicion and pain. He seemed so much more at ease when talking about computer systems. She wondered if he'd been some sort of slicer himself. It might explain his wariness of the Exchange. "Don't strain yourself too hard," she said. "You're still injured."

"I know." She wasn't entirely sure he was listening anymore.

Well, it wasn't a bad compromise, really. If she allowed him to work for his upkeep, it wouldn't quite be the same as charity. Her father had always chided her for taking in strays, for being too trusting. But if he was crew, not charity, that was better, wasn't it?

***

"You know, you're way too honest."

"Excuse me?" Liana looked over at Renn. He had relocated his main workstation up to the co-pilot's station in the cockpit, now that his injuries were healing. She didn't allow him to stay up there unsupervised, of course, but she liked the company when she was there.

She knew his wrist was still giving him pain, and his ribs as well, but he'd moved from sleeping in the medbay to the ship's second dormitory for a little bit more privacy. She hadn't any clothes to give him, since her people didn't normally wear them. His had been mostly destroyed, although the pants had at least been repairable, for which he had seemed unduly grateful. They'd been able to salvage little else, though, so he was usually wearing one of the medbay shifts or a blanket in lieu of a shirt. That was the first thing they needed to get for him, when they reached Sennatt. Clothes, and some more food.

"I've been looking over your shipment records," he said. "You play it too safe. I think you should vary your cargo more. You make a lot of routine colony and space station supply runs, and not much else. Those are pretty low-paying jobs."

"Are you an expert in cargo as well as computers, then?"

Renn flushed. "Well, not really. I used to... sometimes work as crew on cargo ships, with my father. They made extra credits smuggling all the time."

"I will do nothing illegal," she said.

"It's not, really."

Her disbelief must have been clear in her expression, as he kept talking in a rush. She noticed he did that when he was nervous.

"I'm not talking about spice or weapons or anything like that. It's like... there's high import taxes on normal things that people need, or sometimes only one company is allowed to bring supplies in, so that company raises the prices as high as they can. It's technically smuggling to bring in what people want, but it's not really hurting anyone."

She raised a brow.

"You just bring a little something extra with normal supply runs, and people pay you for it. We did it all the time."

"It strikes me as something difficult to just start doing. People would have no reason to trust a stranger. And it _is_ illegal."

He shrugged. "Illegal doesn't always mean wrong. And you don't have to worry about it unless you get caught."

She gestured at his arm, still wrapped in bandages. "You got caught."

He frowned. "That was different. That was... something bigger. Something I shouldn't have done."

She didn't press.

"I... might know where to find jobs like that," he said, "if you change your mind. It's nothing really organized, so it's not like working for the Hutts or anything. There's one-off jobs that people post in certain places on the Holonet. It's all done through proxies and backchannels."

She'd quickly found that Renn sometimes had very different ideas than herself about how to do things. From little things he'd let slip, she gathered that his father had been some sort of petty criminal, and he'd grown up with things like that as part of his normal, everyday life. He was also, as she'd noted before, very young, much younger than he pretended to be, at least. He didn't speak of other family at all, not even a mother. She wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

She shook her head at him finally. "It's not a good idea."

He didn't reply, refocusing on his terminal. They often came to this sort of impasse, and he just went quiet like that. He didn't quite trust her yet, she knew. She thought she could understand.

***

While Liana was resupplying and getting her cargo shipment delivered on Sennatt, Renn took himself to the nearest public terminals. Most of the time, they cost credits to use, but a surreptitious spike had gotten him past that. After that, he just had to route through a couple of different proxies, and... now, there would be no record of what he was doing here in the terminal's logs. He could get to work.

He needed to establish history for his new identity, something he'd be able to fake records for, and for that, he needed more computer power than the Wanderer currently had.

He'd settled on Nar Shaddaa for his new port of origin, since their population records were notoriously shoddy anyway, and it was a place he knew well enough to fake being a native of. It was a little too close to his actual homeworld, but it couldn't be helped. 

Nar Shaddaa was an easy place for people to get lost in, so he should be able to make his new identity be found just as easily. He would simply slip a record or two into their system, and... there... one Renn Falani was now a nineteen year old orphan from Nar Shaddaa, with unknown parents who were presumed dead. Old enough to have been released from a government-run orphanage and left to fend for himself, but still close enough to his real age that no one should question him too much.

That would do for where he came from. How he got here was another story. This was where things would get tricky. He needed a believable chain of events to get Renn Falani from Nar Shaddaa to an escape pod found by Liana's passing ship. He'd been scouring news and security reports for ideas before they'd arrived, and he thought he'd found the solution.

First, he inserted his new identity onto the crew list of a regular supply ship leaving Nar Shaddaa. He left evidence that he had departed the crew when the ship docked at Novus Station. Then, he found the records for the ironically-named Good Fortune, a cargo ship out of the very same station. The Good Fortune had been reported as hijacked by pirates, not long ago. If he put himself onto that crew list as well, it was plausible that maybe he'd been pressed into service by the pirates in exchange for his life, before being left for dead in the escape pod. It didn't entirely match the story he'd told Liana, but he could make it work.

From there, he could add details and fill in the gaps with some careful manipulation of data. A few false transactions on the station, to look like he'd bought food or small luxuries, a few more fake records. It was a pretty dismal life he'd invented for himself. No one would question why a poor kid would get out of that orphanage hell as soon as he possibly could. No one would question why he might bargain for his life with pirates, or why they'd have left him for dead in an escape pod after he'd angered them.

He'd reinvented himself and created a new identity. He should be safe now, as long as he didn't slip up.

But now what?

Really, he could do anything he wanted now. Get a job, or find a berth on another ship.

But what he found he wanted, truly wanted, was to stay on the Wanderer.

It was the safest place for him, if he looked at it objectively. It was a small ship, with little chance of taking on additional crew. Liana had very few regular routes, and went to all manner of different places.

Of course, he'd run all the checks he could on her, and she was completely clean as far back as he could find. The ship was purchased honestly, from a retiring merchant on Lunis Station a few years ago. There wasn't much about where she'd been before that; he assumed on her people's home planet of Trian or one of its colony worlds. The Trianii were independant and not aligned with either the Republic or Sith Empire. They kept their records to themselves in that part of the galaxy.

He'd had no reason to doubt her honesty thus far. Liana had proven trustworthy. She was intelligent, if a little naive, and she was strong. Even more, she was kind. She'd said he could stay until they arrived here, yet the first thing she had done when they landed was to take him to buy clothing, when she could have just left him. She'd also asked him to help her buy food that he would like, and promised that she would even try some of it.

He owed her too much. It wasn't just that she'd saved his life. She'd simply accepted him, at face value, without demanding too many answers that he wasn't ready to give. It was something he could never repay. He thought she might just be someone he could believe in.

Even if she had terrible business sense.

Actually, if he could get her to expand her business, she could be making more than just barely enough to keep her ship supplied and repaired. While he still had the terminal open, he did some more digging. There were a few small smuggling jobs he thought she might be willing to do if he could persuade her, and they all paid better than her usual runs. Medical supplies, food, equipment. Harmless things going to people who really needed them. He sent them to her, with a note saying he thought she'd be interested, and then headed back to the ship to plead his case in person.

The only one still aboard the ship was the astromech droid, T5, as Liana had taken her other droid, B4, with her to play translator when she delivered her cargo and picked up more supplies. T5 seemed reluctant to let him back on board without Liana around, though.

"You know she wouldn't mind," he told the droid through the comlink. "I just need to talk to her when she gets back."

The ramp started to lower slowly.

When Renn came aboard, the little droid let out a long string of angry beeps that he wasn't sure he understood. Something about not going anywhere near the cockpit, maybe. That was fine with him. He just wanted to talk to Liana before she left again, and ask her to let him stay.

He started toward the dormitory room he'd been using. He should probably just rest until Liana got back, in case she needed help loading any new cargo she was picking up. He sank into the bunk and closed his eyes, intending to take a quick nap while he waited for her return.

He was awakened by a jolt to his arm that made him jump. Beside his bed, T5 started beeping again, angrily. The droid withdrew a manipulator arm back into his squat torso, still sparking with electricity. "What the-?!"

The small droid beeped his extreme displeasure again, and rolled off. Renn stared after him. There was something really wrong with that droid.

T5's dome spun back toward him, and he beeped again loudly.

"What?"

T5's squeal-beep sounded more irritated. Suddenly, he heard a comm unit crackle to life, and Liana's voice came through it. "I don't know what you think you're doing, but it is my ship."

Renn jumped up. "Liana, I-" But she wasn't speaking to him, he realized, as a different voice over the comm began speaking Huttese.

B4's voice came next. "Captain, he says that the goods are not what he was expecting and the delay was too long in delivery. He is owed compensation for damages. Your ship will be adequate payment, if you cannot make amends otherwise."

Renn's eyes narrowed. That sounded like a pretty common scam to steal ships from unwary owners. They loved to target small ships with sole owners or small crews for this sort of thing.

"Where are they now?" Renn asked. 

T5 let out another long string of beeps. 

"Never mind. Can you get a message to them, without that guy hearing it? Tell them to try to get him to come aboard. Maybe we can ambush him."

T5 beeped again. The comm crackled back to life. Liana's voice, stiff and full of suppressed anger, said, "Very well, let us go aboard my ship to discuss a settlement." The alien voice agreed.

Renn looked down at the droid. "Any spare blasters on board?" T5's dome swiveled. He rolled off down the hallway.

At a loss, Renn followed him. The droid rolled into the cargo hold, where it popped open one of the lockers against the wall, and pulled several blasters from within using its repair arm. "I only need one!" Renn said, picking up a blaster and clipping the holster to his belt. The light on the small droid's dome turned a baleful red. He extended every repair arm he could from his torso, and picked up the other blasters.

"Ooookay, remind me not to piss you off," Renn said. T5 beeped agreement with this sentiment, and rolled back toward the ramp. That crazy little droid should probably not be able to access weapons so easily.

T5 parked himself at the top, having retracted his arms again, hiding the blasters inside his midsection. Renn crouched behind the wall by the doorway with his own blaster ready in his good hand, just out of sight and leaning just a little bit around the corner so he could see down the ramp and below the ship.

At first, he saw only Liana and B4 approaching with, presumably, the angry client. But then, he saw the rest of them. A dozen toughs of various species, armed with blasters and rifles, moved out of hiding behind them, effectively closing off the path behind Liana. A few of them started to fall in at a distance. Liana probably wasn't even aware that they were coming.

"This is bad," Renn said. "I don't think we can fight all of those guys off with just us." He thought quickly. "We need to leave, now. I'll go prep for launch. Once the engine starts up, can you cover them and get them on board?" he asked.

He holstered his borrowed blaster as T5 agreed and rolled forward, beeping. He heard Liana's voice chiding the droid to get back onboard. Ignoring it, he raced to the cockpit.

Well, he knew how to fly a ship in theory. His father had shown him a few times, but he'd never been allowed to try in a real flight situation. Renn supposed he was either going to learn quick, or crash the ship and kill them all. No pressure.

Renn flipped switches and dials one-handed as he settled into the pilot's chair.

First that fuel switch, and then... that seemed right. The engine roared to life. He heard blaster fire, faintly, from somewhere behind him. He didn't have time to worry about that now. He had to remember how to prime the engines and get the freighter ready to take off.

The comm beside him crackled to life. Liana's voice. "We're on board! Go!"

"Working on it," he said, even though the comm had already cut out again.

He punched a button, and the ship started to rise. It was moving too slowly. He turned a dial, and suddenly the ship lurched up and forward. He heard a scraping, crunching sound and cringed, steering the ship away and trying to level it out as it sped up, away from the docking bay.

T5 beeped angrily behind him. He turned in the pilot's chair to see Liana arrive right after the droid. She rushed over to the console and leaned over it, pushing more buttons. Renn carefully extricated himself from the chair around her, and backed away.

"T5," she said, "can you fix the stabilizers, please?" The droid rolled off, and Liana stood from the console, breathing heavily. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she looked back at Renn. "You," she said, "are not allowed to fly my ship ever again."

"Right. Sorry."

She laughed then, and he was relieved that she didn't really seem angry with him. "Thank you, Renn. Your quick thinking saved us, and my ship. Mostly."

He shrugged. "I owed you."

"There is no debt here," she said, clasping his hand. "Although now you seem to be stuck with us awhile longer."

Renn smiled crookedly back at her. "About that...."


	2. Home

_-Present-_

_Come home._

Renn Falani stared at the message on the screen. Anonymous, left in a encrypted file share. It was supposed to be an emergency message drop. A way for him, Liana, or a few other trusted contacts to reach out if the worst should happen.

_Home._

It had been a long time since he'd associated that word with anything except the Wanderer. The cargo hauler and smuggler's ship had been Liana's home for as long as he had known her, and she had folded him neatly into it, a hurt, angry teenage boy with nowhere else to go. She'd never demanded answers, never really pried too much about the events that had led her to find a slumped and bleeding kid, running out of oxygen in a jettisoned escape pod.

Once, a lifetime ago, home had meant an apartment planetside with his parents. His mother had worked hard back then, long hours for too little money. His father had fallen in with the wrong crowd, hoping to make a few quick credits. When she'd finally had enough, his mother had left her husband, taking her son with her. After that, home had been his mother's small but clean little place, a few rooms barely big enough for them both, in a crowded building full of beings of all shapes and sizes.

The message was probably a trap. He knew that in his gut. Who else would even know to leave a message here for him? 

But his mother might have remembered. He'd tried to reach her once, years ago. But would she have left a cryptic message for him in this blind drop? He'd quickly learned to keep his distance from anyone who could have known him before. He'd changed everything, covered his tracks. Kept himself safe.

No, it was definitely a trap.

_Home._

The word blurred further into incomprehensibility the longer he stared at it. His fingers twitched toward delete, but stopped. His eyes were so tired, his vision hazy. He pressed his hands over them for a moment, blocking out the message.

He'd spent too many late nights, all-nighters even, trying to find Gaman, the man who had sold them out last year. Gaman had gone into hiding, much as Renn himself had done years before. Changed his name, covered his tracks. Except that Renn was constantly on the verge of a breakthrough. He had automated programs watching for Gaman to make a move, but they weren't as trustworthy as his own eyes, his own skills. His search had already cost one life; he couldn't allow anyone else to get involved. All he had to do was be vigilant, wait for that one mistake, the opening he needed....

"Are you still awake?" Liana's voice made Renn jump, and he hurried to close the message. He had a feeling she'd already seen it, though.

"Can't sleep," he said, not looking over his shoulder at her. He could hear her there, confirmed by a light touch of her hand on his shoulder.

When she spoke, her voice dripped suspicion. "Can't, or won't?"

"I _can't_ let my guard down. You know that."

"I _know_ that you're slowly killing yourself."

He still didn't look at her. "I'm fine, Liana."

"You are not fine. You haven't slept in three days. You have barely eaten either. It's not healthy, what you're doing." She continued talking right over his attempt to growl out a reply. "Getting revenge on Gaman isn't worth this."

"Come on, you aren't my mother." As soon as the words had escaped, Renn knew it was the wrong thing to say. Her hand fell away from his shoulder.

Somehow, the long silence before she spoke again echoed with a moment's pain. He couldn't tell whose. "Maybe this is true, but I am your friend," Liana finally said. "And I won't let you do this to yourself."

He sighed. He knew she was right. He just hated to admit he was wrong. Hated _being_ wrong. "Fine," he said. "You win. You're right." His fingers twitched toward delete again, but instead, he saved the message under a password lock, stashed neatly out of view.

"It's not about winning," Liana said, taking hold of him again, a hand on his arm. She knew how much admitting defeat cost him. She always seemed to know. "It's about you taking care of yourself. You've been obsessed with this for too long."

"Yeah, well...."

_Come home._

He frowned again to himself as they left the cockpit.

Renn let Liana guide him into the main hold, to the little table they used for just about everything from eating to small repairs. She walked into the galley for a moment, and returned with a small bowl and a cup of something steaming, which she set before him. Leftovers from an earlier meal, more than likely, but at least the caf was fresh. She bared her teeth slightly in what passed for a small, apologetic smile with her. "Do you need anything else? I know it's not much, but it's all we have until the next supply stop."

He shook his head at her, the corner of his mouth crooking up almost of its own accord in response. "It's fine, Liana. Really. I've had way worse than this."

She dropped onto the bench across from him at the little table, her eyes searching his face. He sighed, then frowned down at the bowl she'd placed in front of him. It seemed Liana was going to watch him eat as well.

"I'm fine," he said again. He looked across at her. She didn't look convinced, but then again, he wouldn't have believed him either. He started to eat slowly. He couldn't stop thinking about the message.

 _Home._ This was home. This was the only home he had left. She was family. They were family.

"Where are Kara and the Jedi?" he asked, mostly just to break the silence.

"Sleeping. Like rational people."

He shook his head. "Sleep is for the weak."

"Right. Is that why you look like you're about to pass out?"

He didn't reply, instead pretending to focus on his food. Liana watched him, a knowing expression on her face. He hated when she looked at him like that. It reminded him that sometimes she knew him better than he knew himself. "Finish eating and get some rest," she said. "You need to take care of yourself. You know how I worry."

"Yeah, I know," Renn said. She patted his arm, then rose to go back to the cockpit.

"Liana?" he called before she left the room.

"Yes?"

He swallowed a bite of food, and his pride. "Thanks."

She smiled at him, and came back to hug him from behind, her arms around his neck. He leaned back into her a moment. She nuzzled his hair, then released him. "Get some sleep. That's an order."

"Yes, Boss," he said, rolling his eyes. Her chuckle as she left the room was his only answer.

***

Renn went back to the dormitory he shared with Aeron after finishing his meal. Liana was right. He was exhausted.

The sound of Renn entering the room roused Aeron from his slumber, or meditation, or whatever the hell the Jedi did at night. He turned on his bunk to face the door.

"Renn? Still having trouble sleeping?"

Renn shrugged. Then, realizing that the Jedi might not be able to see him in the dim lighting, he replied, "Not really. Just taking care of something." He didn't even bother changing, just pulled off his shirt and threw himself onto his own bunk.

Aeron turned on the light. "You know, I respect your privacy.... I truly do. But frankly, your presence in the Force is shouting otherwise at the top of its lungs." He actually looked sheepish. "If you're going to scream in my ear, I can't help but listen. My offer to help you shield yourself, to help repair the damage you suffered last year, still stands."

"Did you guys plan this? Is it 'everyone meddle in Renn's business' day?" Renn said, covering his eyes from the sudden brightness.

Aeron sat up. "Actually, the calendar clearly states it's 'be worried about your friend who is obviously in pain and too proud to ask for help' day." He smiled. "Or at least, it is as of half an hour ago."

Renn rubbed at his eyes. They were throbbing again. He couldn't think straight anymore through the fatigue. "I'm fine," he said, echoing the lie he'd told Liana earlier. "I just need to sleep."

Nodding, Aeron reached over and extinguished the light. "The worst lie," he said, "is the one we tell ourselves."

Renn immediately turned the light back on, squinting against the stinging in his reddened eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?!" he asked, glaring across at his roommate.

Aeron blinked in perfect innocence. "I thought you wanted to go to sleep?"

Renn took a long deep breath. And another one. After a third one, he finally managed to reply with forced calm, instead of indulging in his instinct to get up, walk across the room, and beat the other man into unconsciousness. "Look, as Liana just reminded me, I've been awake for three days. I am not in the mood to deal with your sanctimonious Jedi act right now."

Aeron nodded. "Very well. I will be quiet and let you sleep. The price for which is that we _will_ talk in the morning. Deal?"

"Fine. Whatever." Renn slammed his hand into the light control to shut it back off. Sometimes he really missed when he and Liana had the ship to themselves.

In the quiet darkness, his brain continued to churn, thoughts coming unbidden despite his best effort to quiet them. He kept going back to the message. The trap. Or was it? Could it be...?

Even if it was real, did he really want to go back? Could he?

Renn found himself lying awake, staring up at the ceiling above his bunk in the darkness, his eyes seeing nothing. Going over everything, again and again, as if this time he would find a connection he'd missed, a new angle. He wondered again if this was his own natural paranoia, or somehow a side effect of what had happened to him last year.

Exhaustion finally caught up with him, after a few hours. When he passed out, it was like a sudden darkness descended, and the whirl of his brain fell blissfully and finally quiet.

***

The next morning, the crackling song of lightsabers filled the cargo hold as Aeron and Kara ran through several practice routines.

Not for the first time, the erstwhile Jedi was amazed how deep and strong this simple farm girl's connection to the Force was.

In his private heart, Aeron could admit that he had not always been the best student. Not for lack of trying, but because he'd always felt somewhat tenuous in his connection to the Force as a whole. He'd read and absorbed every scrap of Jedi lore he could find, but the cold wisdom of words written in the distant past by Masters long since gone to the cosmic beyond, could only take one so far.

As a youngster, he'd meditated for hours, occasionally even days, but he still felt the boulder-like block that sat solidly within him. The stubborn spiritual obstacle that he could only just barely reach around, but never dislodge. It dammed the river of the Force, and the little that made it around was like a trickle of water to a man dying in the desert sun.

But with Kara, the opposite held true. Her training was haphazard, spotty at best. She spoke of the Force only through metaphor and parable. But for all that, her innate grasp of several Jedi disciplines was staggering.

When it came to manipulation of her own body, of movements and athletic prowess, she surpassed any Master that Aeron had ever met. Her natural skill with the lightsaber approached the legendary status of her grandmother, Selene.

Bladedancer, the Jedi had called Selene, the foremost sword-master of the Order. Aeron had seen holos of Selene in action, but they were blurs. Movements so rapid and precise that they could not be followed with the eye alone. Kara Tao Vanden lived up to Selene's legacy.

But that wasn't the limit of Kara's gifts. Her bond with the Force — the Music, as she still called it — granted her unique insights and abilities. She could read people's emotions at a deeper level than many Jedi, down to their very cores. She could manipulate energy as it flowed through electrical circuits. But most unusual of all, while most Jedi could glean insight into the people and events around them if they exerted themselves, Kara could do so instinctively, without even being aware of it. As she put it, the Music was 'the song sung by all life'. Listening to the Music let her 'hear' the world about her in ways Aeron hadn't known were possible.

But, for everything Kara could do, there was an equally long list of things she just could not grasp. She had no talent for telekinesis at all. She could only barely communicate telepathically... and her presence in the Force was such that she entered the room like a sun going nova. She couldn't hide it, she couldn't diminish it... and in a galaxy where both the Jedi and the remnants of the Sith feared and hunted Force wielders who did not serve their traditions, that marked her as both very dangerous, and very vulnerable, prey.

And then, there was whatever she had done to seal the breach that opened this world to the Silence.

Aeron still shied away from thinking about whatever that strange anti-Force was that they'd encountered on Derra IV. Kara wouldn't even speak of it, and grew furiously angry if it was mentioned. It was beyond darkness, beyond cold. It was... death. The death of light, the death of spirit... the death of all.

But she, with her Song, and her wings made of golden light, had burned it out of the galaxy.

She'd not shown even a glimmer of anything like the power she'd channeled since that day in the cave on her homeworld. Kara's instinctive rescue of Renn's Silence-ravaged soul, healing him with her Song and light.... Aeron still couldn't find proper words for what he'd seen and felt that day, even after a year of trying.

But their lives had been further complicated by the powerful Force bond that had formed between Kara and Renn because of those actions.

Renn wasn't Force-sensitive, but he'd somehow developed a deep and instinctual connection with Kara in that fateful instant. Aeron also shared in their bond, but only peripherally. Whether that was because of his block, or because he hadn't been a direct part of the Silence's purging, he couldn't say.

In the year since, both Renn and Kara had often known what one another was feeling, and at times even communicated simple thoughts. Their powerful empathic bond could also drive them into fits when they fed off of one another's emotions. A feedback loop, Aeron had called it once. Renn preferred the term 'sparking'.

His preoccupation had distracted Aeron from their routine and Kara's golden blade of sun-fire halted a bare inch from his nose.

"Dammit, Aeron!" She closed down her weapon.

"Forgive me, I was... elsewhere."

"No kidding, I almost chopped you in half!" She stormed over to the corner to sit down in a heap.

"We're both in a poor state of mind for saber drills," Aeron said, joining her.

"Yes, I guess so," she said.

"I'm worried about Renn, too, Kara," Aeron said in a soft voice.

"He's so... distant, lately. I know he has his secrets, and I don't _want_ to know what they are but.... I mean, if he doesn't trust me by now...."

"Renn lives in a house of mirrors. Each reflecting a facet, but not the whole."

"Is that some Jedi proverb?"

"Yes, actually. It isn't that he doesn't trust you, Kara. It's that... whatever he's hiding, he's held it so tightly for so long, I don't think he knows _how_ to let it go. The best thing we can do is stand by him, and be supportive. The storm will pass, eventually."

She nodded. "I guess so...."

"Now, come. Let us continue our meditations, and practice going within."

Aeron closed his eyes. Kara rolled hers.

"I heard that," Aeron said.

***

Kara sighed. Of course he'd heard it. That's what they were supposed to be practicing with these mediation sessions. Control of not just her emotions, but what she Sang to the rest of the world.

With another sigh, she closed her eyes and once again pictured the top of the mountain.

The mountain was a single peak. In her mind's eye, she stood atop it and saw nothing but bare rock, under a dark and ominous sky, ripe with storm clouds.

Lightning forked the skies in violent bursts of color against the dark. Thunder crashed and echoed from the stones in tremendous peals of punishing sound. But the worst was yet to come.

'You are the storm,' she thought for the umpteenth time. 'Quiet it. Calm your mind, soothe the chaos....'

It didn't work. It had never worked. The first, fat cold drops of water slapped her cheeks followed by the deluge.

Against the hammering rain, in the teeth of the gale, her garments did not suffice. They held the water, grew cold and heavy, dragged her down.... So real was this vision that, in reality, Kara shivered violently with cold, despite the ship's warm interior.

From across the vast gulf of mountain distance that was perhaps two meters in reality, Aeron's voice came again. "Ah, well. Perhaps next time?"

***

Renn awoke slowly, unsure of what time it was... or even what day it was.

Groggy, he reached for the datapad he kept nearby to check. Late afternoon the next day... well, technically the same day he'd finally fallen asleep.

He scanned his messages, still lying in bed. A couple of job offers for the ship. Easy cargo runs. A few simple smuggling jobs had popped up in his notifications, too. He passed the decent ones on to Liana to review, and tossed the rest. She always liked to make the final decisions, but she trusted him to weed out worthless or troublesome jobs.

There was nothing else important. Some of his old contacts were still steering clear these days, even a year later. Good riddance. He didn't need them anyway.

Renn hesitated, then pulled up the locked message again. Maybe he could trace it somehow, find out exactly where it had come from. Maybe he could find out who was trying to lure him into a trap.

Maybe he should just delete it and forget about it before it drove him mad.

He sighed and closed it again, then checked where everyone was by tracking their comlinks. Liana was in the cockpit. Aeron and Kara were in the cargo hold. Probably practicing Jedi stuff. He wondered idly if she could tell he was awake from all the way across the ship.

An alert icon flashed in the corner of the datapad. He checked his messages again.

His automatic monitoring program had found something new.

He scrambled up to pull on a shirt, then bolted for the door. He needed his secure terminal, now.

Of course, he ran headlong into Kara immediately after the first bend in the hallway. She took a step back and her eyes went wide. "Whoa, Renn. What's happened?"

"I need to check something," he said, curtly pushing past her. He didn't have time to explain, and he wasn't sure she'd understand it anyway. He headed toward the cockpit. Liana would know something was up, but it couldn't be helped.

"Renn?" Liana asked as he entered the cockpit.

"Hang on," he said, dropping into his seat. He quickly pulled up the automated monitoring program that he always kept running in the background. The notification had gone dim. He could still actively try to trace the activity it had detected, but Gaman had already hidden his presence again. "Damn it!" He slammed his hand into the console, hard.

"What's going on?!" Kara asked, entering just in time to watch Renn assault the console.

Liana stood up from her seat when Renn punched the console, looking at him in alarm.

"I lost him. Again." Renn hunched over the console, putting his head in both hands. "I thought this time I might.... Never mind."

Kara and Liana shared a look of concern, and at a nod of the girl's head, the Captain stepped out and shut the hatch, leaving them alone.

"Gaman, you mean. You're hunting Gaman. Again." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah." He didn't look up at Kara, but he lowered his hands. His left hand throbbed distractingly where he'd struck the console.

Kara sat down in the chair next to his and took his sore hand in both of hers. Renn started when she touched him, but he didn't push her hands away. She didn't try to meet his eyes. Really, she didn't have to. "I know something about revenge, about letting the fire drive you into doing something foolish."

"I'm the only one who can do this," he said.

She gave him a level look. "The only one who understands this stuff, sure." She nodded at the console. "But that doesn't mean you're hunting him alone."

"You don't get it," he said, frustration turning his voice bitter. "I've never seen anyone this good. No records, no traces, nothing. It's like he never even existed." Renn shook his head. "He almost destroyed everything I- everything I have. I can't let that happen again."

Kara slid onto her knees so she could look him in the eye. "Don't dance to his tune, play your own. Stop following his trail. Make him come to you, to _us."_

"How am I supposed to do that?" Even before he met her eyes, he could feel her gaze on him. He still wasn't used to that yet. "I don't even know why he's playing this game. Maybe he just gets off on tormenting me."

"That's my job. He can't have it."

Renn snorted. "Oh, that explains so much."

Kara chose not to respond to that. "Besides, Gaman tormenting you doesn't track with what you've said about him before. He's careful, patient, and cautious. Leaving bread crumbs around just to taunt you is... vindictive and stupid. If you'd been half a tic faster, you might have nailed him."

She firmly shook her head. "No. Something _else_ is going on here."

"He's trying to lure me out, or into making a mistake," Renn said, thinking again of that message. "It's the only thing I can think of to explain it."

"Then stop helping him by running yourself ragged. You're not in this alone, Renn. We will all help you. And when _we_ find him...."

"What?" he asked. "What happens then?"

Kara Tao Vanden, Renn Falani decided, had a most unnerving chuckle.


	3. Meena

Their next port of call was Novus Station, an independant space station on the edges of Hutt Space. Almost a city floating in space, it was a popular stop for traders to resupply and pick up cargo on the way in or out of the Hutts' territory. 

It was the sort of station Liana always enjoyed visiting. A mix of beings of all different species and sizes, entertainment and activity everywhere. It was a place much like this where she'd settled before buying the Wanderer. She had mostly worked security then, or as a dockworker, doing odd jobs until she had enough for her own ship.

Liana looked back at Renn as they disembarked. He was tense already. She worried about him more and more these days. It felt as if he'd been growing distant from all of them lately, retreating into whatever he was doing to try and find the man who'd betrayed them.

Their plan for today was to get some food first — a fresh meal, for a change — before getting to work on resupply and looking for cargo. Hopefully it would be a nice break for her crew. She hoped that maybe Renn might relax a little, away from his work, with some decent food and his friends around him.

As they were making their way through the station, headed away from the docking bay, she heard a voice cry out loudly nearby, something Liana didn't hear clearly. At first she paid it no heed, until she noticed a young Twi'lek woman running after them.

She was short, with pale violet skin, and darker splashes of purple decorating her lekku. Her blue eyes were wide and bright. She was well-built, but in a lean way, as though she were some kind of athlete, perhaps. The tight jumpsuit she wore, while it covered most of her skin, clung to her generous curves and left little to the imagination. She did not appear to be armed, Liana noted, though her own hand fell to her blaster automatically.

"It really is you!" the Twi'lek said as she got close. To everyone's shock, she threw her arms around Renn. "Rennie! You're alive!"

"Meena," Renn gasped. He had completely frozen where he stood.

"You _do_ remember me!" She smiled broadly. The girl began speaking all in a rush, through tears running down her face. "We all thought you were dead! Where have you been? Oh, Ori will be so happy when I tell her!"

Liana couldn't see Renn's expression, but she knew that body language. He was on the verge of panic. She had not seen him quite like this since he had first arrived on her ship. "Excuse me, Miss," she said, getting the young woman's attention, "but we're blocking the corridor here. We were on our way to get some food."

"Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry. I just wasn't expecting-" The girl released Renn, a bit of a pink flush visible in her purple cheeks. She wiped at her eyes. "I mean, I caught a glimpse and I thought I must be seeing things but I had to be sure!" She was practically bouncing in place. "Come on, I know a great place nearby to get something to eat and catch up!" She grabbed Renn's arm and pulled him forward with her.

Liana looked back at Kara and Aeron, startled.

Aeron returned her look. "Don't ask me. Renn was as shocked as we are."

The Captain considered that. "And the girl?"

The Jedi sighed. "From her I sense joy, surprise... everything you'd expect from what she said."

"I don't trust her," Kara's sudden statement drew stares from both of the others. "What?" she asked.

When neither spoke, she growled under her breath and stomped after Renn and his new... old... friend.

Liana uttered a silent prayer to her Goddess to please do something about these idiot children, and followed.

***

It's all over, Renn thought numbly. Meena was still talking. Everything she said brought his house of cards crumbling down a little further around him, and he had no idea how to stop it. He'd already lost his chance to deny her when he'd blurted out her name in shock earlier, so that wasn't even an option.

They should have been far enough away from his old home here. He'd been so careful to avoid anyone or anything who might pin his old identity back on him. But in barely five minutes, his childhood friend was shredding everything he'd built.

To make it worse, he could feel an angry storm cloud hovering somewhere behind him. Kara was... upset about something? He couldn't quite put a name to what she was projecting over their bond, but it was somehow tingeing his own thoughts with red, and making his head hurt.

"Meena," he said, his voice pitched low so no one could overhear, "I need you to listen to me."

Her stream of excited words trailed off. "Rennie? Are you okay? I know it's a shock but-"

"Shut up for two seconds and listen!" Meena fell completely silent, staring at him with wide eyes. "This is important. Don't use my old name."

"What do you mean?"

"Please just trust me. I can't explain right now. I'll tell you later, I promise. I go by Renn Falani now."

She looked doubtful. "I guess so, if it's important." She glanced back over her shoulder at the rest of his crew. "Who are they?"

"Crew from the ship I'm on. That's how they know me, and I need to keep it that way."

"Oh!" She brightened. "I want to hear all their stories about you. They seem nice."

Renn thought about that storm cloud lurking behind them and shook his head.

The others caught up with them then. Liana looked a bit worried. Kara was obviously taking great pains not to obliterate passers-by. But Aeron was grinning as though Life Day had come early.

"So," he said, "Meena, was it? My name is Aeron. This is Kara, and our Captain, Liana. How do you know our... Rennie, here?"

Renn glared daggers at Aeron, his jaw clenched, but Meena was completely oblivious to the look exchanged over her head. "I'm Meena Lanu," she said, smiling brightly at the Jedi. "Rennie lived in the apartment above mine when we were kids, so we were together all the time. We kind of grew up together, I guess. Oh, here we are!" She pointed to the doorway ahead of them. A sign advertised food and drink. "They have great food here. Please, let me treat all of you." She hugged Renn's arm, then let go and started toward the door.

Renn took one step toward the grinning Jedi before Liana grabbed his other arm. "Behave," she said.

"Liana," he growled. She, of all people, had to know what was happening to him.

"We'll discuss it later." She followed the girl inside.

Aeron made a placating gesture and started after Liana, but Kara remained outside with Renn. "Grew up together, huh?" she asked.

The tone of her voice and his red-tinged headache made him defensive. "Yeah," he said. "The last time I saw her I was sixteen."

She glowered at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "And was her preference for clothing tight enough it can be mistaken for body paint well-established at sixteen?"

"Okay, that's enough! What is wrong with you today?!" Renn stepped closer to Kara. All his frustration and fear suddenly spilled over into anger again. "You don't know the first thing about what that girl has been through. You assume the worst of someone you just met, just because she looks a certain way, is that it?"

Suddenly, he smirked at her. "Oh, I get it. That's jealousy I've been feeling from you, isn't it?"

Kara took a step back. "No!"

Renn crossed his arms and looked her in the eye, but remained silent.

"Well...." She looked away and hesitated; then he could see, as well as feel, the jealous rage dissipate as she all but deflated. "I have been, haven't I? I got caught up in my own rage and-" She looked up sharply, "And so were you. The bond... were we, I don't know, reinforcing each other?"

Renn's eyes widened. "I- I think we were. I felt you sparking at me all the way here."

Kara hung her head in shame. "This has to be your worst nightmare. I know how private you are. How hard you work to keep your secrets. I respect that, Renn. Your past is yours alone. Now all that's in danger."

"Yeah, it is," Renn said. He looked back toward the restaurant, where he could see Meena waiting just inside the door. She seemed to be chatting amiably with Liana and Aeron, but she waved when she saw him. "I can't even be mad at her. She doesn't know any better. Damn it, why did this have to happen now?" He turned back to Kara. "I need a favor."

"Yes...?"

"Don't ask her about my family. I think Liana knows better, but...."

"My word," she said. "And I'll keep Aeron from doing so too."

"You'll tell him through the Force?"

She shook her head. "Nah, I'll just kick him under the table."

Renn laughed weakly. "Can I help?" But he glanced back at the door again before she could reply. "We should go in before they get suspicious."

Kara nodded and followed him inside.

***

"He sliced my Mom's Holovid terminal when he was ten. Do you remember that, Rennie? He was trying to download some recordings of my favorite dance troupe for me, but he accidentally got a bunch of other stuff too that we weren't allowed to watch." Meena grinned at him across the table. "Didn't you lose your 'net privileges for a month after that one?"

Renn's smile was tense. "Yeah, I remember." He had picked at his food, barely tasting it. He was completely on edge.

Kara, seated next to Renn and across from Aeron, had her elbows propped on the table, leaning forward to support her chin with her hands. But now she turned a wicked smile on Renn. "Some habits never change, do they?" she asked sweetly.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Renn asked.

Meena clapped her hands. "Oooh! What did he do?" Her eyes were bright.

Kara giggled. "Let's just say he's somewhat lazy about his holonet browsing history."

"Hey!" Renn said.

Aeron smirked. "And there's a giant locked folder on the ship's computer labeled 'Renn's Stuff, DO NOT TOUCH.'"

"I've always wondered what's in it, too," Liana said, from Renn's other side.

Renn hung his head in shame as Meena exploded in laughter. It was his slicing subroutines, in actuality, but he couldn't say that.

"I was wondering," Aeron said, "Meena... could you tell us a bit about Renn's paren... _ow!"_

"Sorry!" Kara said. "My foot's half-asleep. It slipped."

"Oh!" Meena seemed taken aback by the exchange. "Um... I...." Renn looked up, and she met his eyes, concerned. At least she'd remembered what he'd asked, and hadn't blurted out his old name. "I'm sorry, I've kept you all for so long," Meena said. "I'm sure you must be tired, and have things to do. I was just so excited to see Rennie again. He knows how much I love to talk." She giggled.

"It's fine. We were stopping for a meal in any event," Liana said. "The good company was merely a pleasant bonus. But now we must be going, yes."

Kara stood and excused herself, saying she wanted to freshen up before they left. Then Liana went to take care of the check, over Meena's objections, and Aeron bid her good day as he stepped out of the restaurant. It seemed all his friends had mutually decided to let Renn say goodbye in private.

Meena hugged him again. "Are you leaving right away?"

"Probably not for a few days," Renn said.

"I'm not too far from the docking area. Will you come see me again after I get off work tonight?"

"What?"

"You promised me an explanation, remember. I figured you would want to talk in private anyway." Meena smiled. "I get off work at midnight. I'll send you my address."

"Right." Renn sighed. He was not looking forward to that conversation, but she had kept her promise. "I'll try."

"I think I need to freshen up, too. I'll see you later, okay?" She kissed him on the cheek, and then let him go. Renn stood there, stunned, for another moment after she'd gone.

***

Kara stood over a sink in the women's refresher area. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and grimaced. Her bond with Renn was flustering her far more than she thought was healthy. It was getting hard to tell where her feelings ended and his began.

Angrily, she splashed water in her face and rubbed vigorously with a hand towel.

"Kara?"

She looked up. Meena stood there, looking like she wanted to be somewhere else, _anywhere_ else. But something more important held her feet solidly to the floor.

Kara could sympathize. "Yes?"

"I, um.... By asking you this, I'm bending a promise near to breaking. But I have to know."

"Go on."

Meena looked at her feet and continued. "Is... Renn...?" The name sounded like an ill-fitting mummer's mask, coming from her. "Is he in trouble?"

Kara thought about making a quip, something like 'usually' or 'most of the time', but in the Music she could hear Meena's Song of overwhelming earnestness. It was costing her something to ask this, something she gladly paid for her friend.

Suddenly, Kara felt very small for her earlier behavior.

"Renn is... complicated," she said instead. "I know he has his secrets. But even so, I'd trust him with my life. Quite literally, in fact. But the answer to your question, Meena, is yes. I think he is in trouble. Even if he won't admit it to himself."

The Twi'lek girl smiled. "He wouldn't be who he is if he wasn't in one sort of trouble or another. I'm glad he found a new family, and a lover like you."

"Wait, what? No, _no!_ We're not.... It's not like that...!"

Meena's smile turned wicked. "I know. I just wanted to balance the scales for earlier." She turned to go. "I have to run, or I'm going to be late for work. I hope I get to see you again before you guys leave!"

***

Liana sent Renn back to the ship while she waited for Kara, mostly because she thought he needed a chance to regroup. To her surprise, though, Aeron insisted on going with him. She had a bad feeling about that. Hopefully they would do something other than tease each other or argue the whole way back.

Meena exited the restaurant a moment later. "Kara's still in the 'fresher," she said with a smile. "Oh, wait, there she is!"

Liana caught sight of Kara's face, flushed bright red, as she left the restaurant. "Kara? Is something wrong?" she asked, alarmed.

"No, nothing," Kara said, a little too firmly.

Meena waved to the pair of them before she made her way off into the crowd.

Kara waved back. "I like her."

Liana sighed. "As do I."

"So, where are the boys?"

"Renn went back to the ship to see to things, and Aeron went with him."

The girl turned her head sharply toward Liana at that. "Is that the best idea?"

"They'll be fine," Liana said. "I think. We'll talk to clients tomorrow, when Renn has had a chance to rest. In the meantime, you and I can handle resupply and arrange for refueling." Kara nodded, and Liana led the way deeper into the station.

***

Renn was waiting outside of Meena's apartment when she finally arrived home about an hour after midnight. "You came!" she said, beaming.

He nodded. "I think your neighbors might have called security, though. You just said after midnight. I've been standing out here for a while."

"Sorry!" Meena unlocked and opened the door for him, before following him inside. "I should have been more specific." She dropped her jacket and bag by the entryway unceremoniously, and fumbled on the lights in the apartment. "Can I get you anything?"

He shook his head, looking around her home. It was small, kind of a combination living area and kitchen, with a few closed doors leading off to more private areas. It reminded him a little of living aboard the ship, in a weird sort of way. The same utilitarian sort of layout. She pointed to one of the doors. "The 'fresher is there if you need it. Make yourself at home."

He stood awkwardly in the entryway, watching her. "Where are you working?" Unspoken, why here? Why now?

"I'm dancing!" She gave a little twirl as she headed for the kitchen area. "One of the theatres downstation. I wanted to get you tickets to come see my show before you left, but we're sold out for a couple of months ahead of time."

"Maybe next time."

"Ooh, yes! Send me a message next time you know you'll be here, and I'll see what I can do." She looked up from the tea she was making to flash him a grin. "Do you remember when I made you watch every single video of the Stareyn Troupe that existed on the Holonet? I thought you were gonna kill me by the end of the week."

He snorted. "Yeah, it got a little old after the first dozen times. What were you, seven?"

"Eight," she said. "Mom had a friend who danced with them, remember? She took me to go see them for my birthday that year."

"Yeah, I remember. You were completely obsessed." He rolled his eyes.

She made a face at him.

"So what's this place you're dancing in now?" he asked.

Meena laughed. "They're called the Kanlu Troupe. They're not as well-known, and I'm just one of the background dancers right now, but it's a lot of fun. I've been learning so much, and I've met some really great people."

He smiled at her. "I'm happy for you, really. I know how much you wanted that." He looked around awkwardly again.

"Rennie, sit down. You're making me nervous, just standing there." She gestured to the small couch in the middle of the living space. She brought her tea over and set it down on the table before seating herself.

"Sorry." Renn sat next to her and watched her for a moment. "How's your family?"

"Mom and Dad are both still working too hard. Dad's a crew leader on his ship now. He still only comes home every six months or so, though." She sighed. "I'm worried about Mom because she's alone so much, but Ori keeps an eye on her for me." She looked down suddenly.

"How _is_ my mother?" he asked. He looked down at his own hands as he spoke.

"She's doing okay. Still as tough as ever. We talk pretty often. She's been saving up money to come here to visit me, actually." Meena hesitated. "Can I tell her...?"

"No. Meena, please."

"Why? What happened to you? You just disappeared!"

Renn sighed. He knew he owed her this explanation, but he really didn't want to tell her. "You know how my dad used to show up with some crazy scheme every so often?" 

Meena nodded. Of course she knew. She had been there plenty of times when Nahlen Ket had shown up out of the blue, usually half-drunk, with no purpose other than to 'borrow' his son for one of his plans.

"He's my son, too, Ori," his father would say, in that pleading way that always broke down his mother's defenses. "He wants to come with me. Dontcha, kid?" And of course, he did. He always did. His father taught him things, secrets that he wasn't allowed to tell anyone.

That last secret, that one had nearly killed him.

"He had a job lined up with his Exchange crew," he said, choosing his words carefully. "They needed a slicer. A better slicer than Dad was, anyway. He brought me along. Things went badly."

That was an understatement.

"I wouldn't cooperate when everything went wrong. The Exchange thugs beat me and left me for dead in an escape pod. I probably would have died if Liana hadn't found me."

"Oh," Meena breathed. Her tea had already been forgotten.

"That's why I had to disappear. I was afraid if they thought I might still be alive, they might have gone after Mom to try and get to me."

"That explains...." She had tucked her legs up under her, like she always used to do when she was trying to parse something complex. "I was there when some Zabrak boss showed up at Ori's a few weeks after you left. She made me hide in the closet so he wouldn't see me, but I heard everything. When she insisted she didn't know where your father had taken you, he said, 'We regret to inform you that your husband and son are dead,' just cold as that. He gave her some money, and told her that if she heard anything, to tell him. She gave the money right back. Up until then, we just thought it was the usual routine, and your father would bring you back when he got tired of you."

Renn tried to protest that, but Meena gave him a dark look. He couldn't meet her eyes for long. She was right.

"We didn't want to believe it, but then you never came back." Meena reached for his hand, her fingers lacing with his own. "Rennie? Are you okay, really?"

He ignored her question, thinking furiously. "Do you know if Mom ever left a message for me?"

"How? We thought you were dead."

"I sent her an address. An encrypted file share where she could send a secure message if she needed me."

"That was you?" Meena blinked at him. "I don't think she did. We figured out it was a message drop of some sort, but she had no idea who sent it. The note just said that she should use it if she needed help. She thought it might have been those Exchange guys trying to get more information out of her, so she ignored it."

"So it probably wasn't her." He felt relieved. It would be so much more straightforward if the message was a trap. "I thought the message might have been from her," he said, thinking aloud. "And then- then, I suddenly ran into you. That feels too convenient." His brain put pieces of the puzzle together rapidly, and he yanked his hand away from her. "Are you working for him?"

"You're going too fast again, Rennie," Meena said. "I don't understand. Working for who?"

"Gaman."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Are you in trouble? Can I help?"

"No." Renn stood up and started pacing, his mind whirling again. He didn't think she was lying. He wouldn't be able to stand it if she turned on him too, if Gaman had gotten to her, to his old life.

"Tae-" 

He spun on her, and Meena covered her mouth with her hand, realizing her error a moment too late.

"Don't call me that. Forget that name."

She stood up and marched over to him. She shoved him, both her small hands on his chest. "I will not. That's still you." He stumbled back, startled by her vehemence. She pushed him again, hard. Tears ran down her face.

"You are so selfish! Do you have any idea? Ori mourned you! I mourned you! We thought you were dead! We buried you! Your mother finally started moving on, and putting her life back together, and now you're alive, and _you won't let her have that!_ You won't let her have you back, because it's not _convenient_ for you!" She shoved at him a third time, this time stopping her advance to stare up at him with unreadable eyes.

"She'd be in danger," he said. He felt numb and empty inside again, as if everything had drained out of him in a rush before her anger. "I'm trying to protect her, Meena."

"Some things are worth danger," she shouted at him. "That's not a decision you get to make for her. Or for me."

He looked away. It hurt to look at her right now. "I shouldn't have come here. This was a mistake." She grabbed for his hand, but he was already past her, heading for the door.

"Rennie, please. Don't go. Don't disappear again."

"Forget Taeren Ket ever existed. Let him stay dead," he said, leaving her apartment.

***

Renn took a circuitous route back to the ship, just in case anyone was trying to follow him. It was habit, but it also fit his mood to stalk through the corridors of the station, his thoughts chasing themselves around in circles.

He tried to sneak back aboard the Wanderer, but T5 was waiting in the corner of the hold when he got to the top of the ramp. He didn't see the little astromech at first, but as soon as the ramp closed behind him, the droid lit up and beeped brightly.

"T5, don't you dare!"

The little droid sounded the ship's alarm anyway, despite Renn's protest.

***

Dreams of cool wind and green grass swiftly dissolved under the blare of the klaxon and Kara Tao Vanden rolled from her bed with a lightsaber in each hand.

It took her a moment to realize that Liana was holding up a hand to restrain her. "It is merely T5," the Trianii captain said, her tail snapping back and forth in irritation. "I set him to monitor Renn. If he left the Wanderer, the droid was to notify me of his return."

Kara eyed the dormitory's speakers, which were continuing to scream all manner of alarms. "Consider yourself notified."

Liana growled and stalked from the room. Kara, swiftly donning a light robe over her skivvies, followed.

They found Renn and Aeron barking angrily at each other in the main hold while T5 continued to sound new alarms and chortle evilly.

"T5, enough," Liana said. The droid looked dejected as he shut off the alarms. "Renn, where were you?"

"Nowhere," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Just taking a walk."

"In the middle of the night?"

"Why were you spying on me?!" His eyes darted between the three of them. "All of you have been spying on me, haven't you?"

Kara wasn't having that. "Says the guy who 'went for a walk' at midnight and returned with a ton of guilt roiling off of him," she said. "And don't even pull the 'are you in my head' card. I'm not. I'm trying really, really hard not to listen but, damn it, if you're gonna shout in my ear, I kind of _have_ to listen."

Renn's hands balled into fists at his sides. "You want to know where I was?" he said, glaring around the room. "Fine. I went to Meena's apartment. Are we all happy now?"

"Renn!" Liana's tone held a warning that he completely ignored.

"I needed a break from the noise around here." He stared straight at Kara as he said it.

Kara dropped her gaze. She couldn't meet his. He was in such pain that maybe he didn't see what he was doing. Maybe it was time to open his eyes.

When no one responded to his challenge, Renn stormed toward the dormitories, moving as if to brush past Kara, but at the last moment, she placed a gentle hand on his arm.

"Let go," he snarled, and pulled away.

Kara's hand, quick as a serpent, snatched the hem at the back of Renn's neck and heaved, even as she pivoted on her left foot and used her right to sweep Renn's feet from underneath him. The slicer went down in a heap, and a moment later Kara was kneeling on his chest, with his hands pinned to the deck

"We are going to talk. _You_ are going to listen," she said, in a tone that spoke of snapping and tearing.

Renn, perhaps wisely, was quiet.

"You seem to be laboring under the idea that whatever personal hell you are going through affects no one but yourself. That we're just busybodies interfering in your life, annoying you with our constant questions and poking. Am I close? Nod or shake your head."

He opened his mouth to speak, but she leaned her weight on his diaphragm and all his air gushed out in one squeak.

"I didn't say verbalize," she said. "Nod. Or. Shake."

Renn managed to shake his head.

"Kara, stop," Liana said. "This is too far."

Aeron, silent this entire time, simply put a restraining hand on Liana's forearm and shook his head, sharing a small, kind smile with her.

"I won't do permanent damage," Kara said. She did lift her knee a bit so Renn could breathe again.

"Now, where were we?" she asked the air. "Oh, yes. I wasn't close. I tell you what, spacer boy. I'm going to let you talk in a moment. You can say anything you want, as long as it's about why you are being such an unmitigated ass. But first, you are going to listen. Not just hear, listen. All right? Good.

"All I have to say is this. Secrets are like old leather. Comfortable and broken in. The longer a secret is kept, the harder it is to reveal." Her voice began to crack. "We get it, we truly do. But let me ask.... We've been through fire, war, loss, death, unspeakable events, and boring routine. We've all had our homes snatched from us, our lives destroyed and our futures stolen. But we are all here, together. Because we're all we have, dammit."

Great tears stood out in her eyes. "After all that, do you really think so little of us that the _truth_ would change our opinion of you?"

"No," Renn said, his voice hoarse. He tried to turn his head away from her, as if he couldn't bear to meet her eyes. His words came out in an unexpected torrent. "You're shouting right back at me. Every time I'm near you, I can't think straight anymore. My brain gets scrambled, and it's like everything is... too loud and too bright. I can't tell where I begin or end, or what's you and what's me. I think I'm losing myself, and...." He hesitated. "It scares me."

"Kara?" Aeron asked. "If you're both shouting, try going within. Find the still place we discussed. See if it helps."

Kara looked up and nodded. She clambered off Renn, pausing only long enough to gently caress his cheek in an oddly reassuring gesture. Then she closed her red eyes and took a deep breath.

In her mind, she was again upon the mountain top at night. The clouds still roiled, the lightning still flashed, but the soaking downpour... did not come. The thunder refused to roll. It was easier this time. She heard Aeron's voice, as if from a far distant dream.

"Renn? Does that help?"

"Yeah," Renn said. "It's... like a whisper, maybe. Not drowning me anymore." He was breathing hard, and hadn't moved from where Kara had left him on the floor.

Liana knelt by him. "And why didn't you see fit to tell anyone it was getting this bad?" she asked.

"Because I'm an idiot?" he said, not looking at her.

Liana nodded. "At least we are in agreement." She glanced up at Aeron. "What did you do?"

The Jedi smiled. "Not a blessed thing. Kara and I have been working on... smoothing out her emotional changes. It's not a Jedi or a Force thing, it's just simple meditation. I figured they were in a sort of feedback loop, and this was the simplest way to calm it."

Kara opened her eyes and turned sheepishly to Renn, who was now sitting up. "I'm sorry. I think you're right. We pushed each other over the edge." She extended her hand. "Still friends?"

He pretended to consider, then clasped her hand. "Still friends," he said. A hint of that familiar smirk played across his lips. "Also, ow."

With a sharp cry, she half-pulled him forward, half-lunged toward him and threw her arms around his shoulders, sobbing with relief.

Renn awkwardly returned the embrace. One of his hands came up to stroke her hair as she cried into his shoulder. "How'd you go from throwing me around the room to crying?" he asked against her ear. She couldn't answer. There was relief in his voice, too. Still lurking beneath the surface, she could feel his guilt, pain, and anger, though it was quieter now.

Liana shook her head in exasperation at them, then rose. She looked pointedly at Aeron. "I, for one, am going back to bed. We have a busy day tomorrow." When Aeron didn't move right away, she grabbed the Jedi's arm. "Let them talk," she said, pulling him after her.

Kara leaned into Renn for a long time, even after her tears had stopped. He had started stroking her hair again, almost absently. "Hey, you didn't fall asleep on me, did you?" he asked after a while, shifting his weight a little beneath her. She felt his voice and soft laugh rumble through her where their bodies touched. It felt nice.

She raised her head and found his lips with hers, acting on pure instinct. At first she thought she might have done something wrong when he tensed. She started to move away, but Renn's hand tangled tight in her loose hair, keeping her close. He kissed her back, over and over again, his mouth gentle but insistent.

She wanted to keep kissing him. She wanted more of him. She reached for the hem of his shirt, tugging at it so hard it almost came apart in her hands.

"Kara, wait," Renn gasped, pulling away. This wasn't his panicked pain of earlier. This was something different. "Are you sure about this?" he asked. Breathing hard, he searched her eyes with his own. "Tell me... we're not just sparking each other into overdrive again...?"

His words were like ice cold water pouring over her. Kara let go of his shirt, her hands falling away from his chest. Her face felt like it was on fire. "I don't know," she said.

Renn sat back, letting go of her and moving further away, a wry smile on his lips. "I was afraid of that."

"Renn-"

"Don't." He shook his head. "It's... probably not a good idea right now anyway."

"Yes," Kara said, even though she already missed the warmth of his body against hers.

He looked away. "We should go to bed. Different beds," he said quickly.

That drew a shaky laugh from her. Kara leaned over and kissed him again, gently, on the cheek this time. "Good night, spacer boy," she whispered. She scrambled up and fled the room before she did something she might regret.

***

Renn groaned and leaned his forehead against the cold metal of the shower stall in the refresher as icy water poured over his body. He had it on the coldest setting he could stand. 

He closed his eyes. Well, that was brilliant, he berated himself. You finally kissed her, and then you pushed her away. Great job.

Well, technically, Kara had kissed him first. It still amounted to the same thing, though. He had stopped her.

He needed her to be sure. He needed to know that it wasn't just the feedback loop, as Aeron had called it. He needed her to say that she wanted _him_. Some no-name spacer brat with more secrets than sense.

Kara had fought to save the galaxy. All he'd done was almost lose himself in the darkness she fought against. He wasn't any good for someone like her, and he knew it.

But, in that heated moment, if she had asked him to stay, if she had said she was sure, he would not have been able to turn away from her. It hurt that she hadn't, even though he knew better. And if he'd woken up to her regret the next day... that was not a trade he was willing to make just for a moment's pleasure.

She'd become too important to him to lose like that. 

When the hell had that happened?

When he'd had enough torment for the evening, Renn shut the water down and dried off. Shivering, he pulled on fresh clothes. He wasn't going to sleep tonight — this morning — anyway.

He went out to his computer terminal in the cockpit, making himself a hot cup of caf on the way. He hadn't been paying as much attention to his tracking programs as he ought to, between everything else that had happened today. He sat down, feeling at home there. Computers, he understood.

A new message notification popped up on Renn's screen when it turned on. No audio or video. No sender name. Text only. Reluctantly, he opened it, his stomach roiling with dread.

"Hey there, Falani," the message read. "Or is it Ket? I never realized how nice Nal Yeshu is this time of year. If you come home for a visit, maybe we'll run into each other. I know how you've wanted to catch up. Wish you were here!"

It wasn't signed, but there was only one person it could possibly be from.

Damn it.

He'd let himself get too distracted, and lost sight of his opponent. Gaman had flanked him, and found his weak spot.

No. He could fix this himself, without dragging them further into his mess.

First things first. He connected through three different proxies to the station's network, so there'd be no records of his activities in the Wanderer's ship logs. From there, Renn booked passage to Nal Yeshu for himself, under a fake name. The next transport left in just over an hour. He could make it in time, if he hurried.

He wouldn't be able to pack anything from his bunk without alerting Aeron, so he didn't bother. He did grab a couple of blasters from the locker in the cargo bay, though. Liana could replace those easily enough if she needed to, and he knew she wouldn't mind.

Then he pulled up his personal finances, which he kept completely separate from the ship's general accounts he managed under Liana's name. All the money he'd saved up over the years for himself, his crew allowance from Liana, payments from side jobs. It didn't matter now. He transferred almost all of it directly into Meena's personal account. The rest of the money, set aside to cover travel and any other supplies he needed, went into a brand new account, under that same new alias. The new identity didn't have to hold long; just long enough to get him to Nal Yeshu undetected by the Exchange. He'd have enough on his plate dealing with Gaman; he didn't want to worry about them finding him again too.

Then he started recording an audio message. "Meena, I need a huge favor," he said. "I know I have no right to ask anything of you after how I left things, but please, hear me out." He took a deep breath.

"I'm transferring some money into your account. Get my mother the hell off of Nal Yeshu, and stay with her. She's in danger there. You might be in danger, too, if he finds you. I don't care how you do it. Just do it. Please. I need her out of there yesterday."

He hesitated, then finished with what he should have said before, in the aftermath of her angry words. "Tell her all of it. Tell her I love her. I never meant to hurt her, or you, or put you in danger. Meena, I'm sorry. For everything." He managed to stop the recording before his voice broke. He sent it off, encrypted and marked urgent. He'd probably be long gone before she listened to it.

He gathered what little he was taking with him. As he approached the hatch, he saw that B4 was now standing there, obviously guarding the exit. He snorted and shook his head. At least it wasn't T5 again.

"Clever.... B4, what happens if I leave?" Renn asked.

"I will alert Mistress Kara, Master Renn."

He laughed despite himself. Of course she had. "B4, can you help me with something real quick?"

"Certainly, sir." B4 tottered over. 

Renn quickly opened the droid's back panel and shut him down. "Not clever enough, farm girl," he said.

But he still hesitated before opening the hatch. They'd all put up with so much from him lately. Especially Kara.

He wished he could go to her now, to say goodbye, tell her everything he'd never said. He desperately wanted to kiss her again. But he couldn't. She'd set B4 to guard duty. She would definitely stop him if she found out what he was planning. And if not her, Liana or Aeron would. He couldn't risk them finding out.

Maybe he could record a message to them on the transport, and have it relayed back to the ship in a few hours, like the coward he was.

He left his home before he could lose his nerve.

About an hour later, Renn watched the station fall away behind the transport for a moment before he closed his eyes. He was really doing this. He said goodbye silently to the Wanderer, his home, his family.

When they realized he was really gone, they might try to use his tracker implant to find him. Much like the capsule tracker he'd given Kara last year, his implant was a passive device, and would only transmit if the paired unit back aboard the ship was looking for it. Liana knew about it, of course, and she knew how to operate the shipboard tracker.

He couldn't worry about that now. Maybe Liana would just think he stepped out, or went back to see Meena. By the time they figured it out, hopefully this would all be over, one way or another.

He wasn't going to run away from his enemy this time. Everything he had, everything he loved, was in danger, and as long as Gaman was still out there, that threat would never go away. He was tired of watching his back every moment of every day, trying to protect everyone. It was time to put an end to this.

He wasn't sure if he'd be coming back, and he'd made peace with that. He had a whole host of regrets, and things left unsaid, but this was all he could do for them right now. He would stay away as long as he had to, if that was what it took.

He hoped someday they might forgive him.

He needed to become someone else, one more time.


	4. Lost

He was gone. Kara awoke knowing that as she knew the air around her, or the sounds of the ship. Renn's Song was no longer on the Wanderer or anywhere nearby, no longer shoving its way into her thoughts.

She sat bolt upright in bed. She couldn't hear him, not in any meaningful way. There was a soft, dull echo of his Song, probably light years in the distance. He was still alive; he was just gone.

"I'm going to kill him," she said with dangerous calm.

Across the room, Liana stirred. "Kara?" she asked, still half-asleep.

Kara didn't answer her, just reached for her comlink. "B4? Are you there? Do you know where Renn is?"

Nothing. No response at all.

Kara sprang from her bed and out the door, not even bothering to grab her robe. She was only dimly aware that Liana followed in her wake.

She found B4 right where she expected, near the main hatch, completely shut down. Kara let fly a string of curses.

"Kara, what in blazes is going on?" Liana said, handing Kara her forgotten robe.

Kara donned it with a growl. "Renn's gone. Not just off the ship, off the station. I have no idea how long ago he left. I had B4 set to watch the main hatch and alert me if he tried to leave, but as you can see...." She gestured at the deactivated droid. "When I find him...."

Liana looked over the droid, her twitching tail showing her concern. She carefully reactivated him. B4 lit up, and looked around.

"B4, when did you last see Renn?" Liana asked. "Was he the one who deactivated you?"

"Yes, Captain. According to my internal logs, it was approximately two hours ago."

"He can't have gotten that far." Liana turned back to Kara. "Are you sure? How can you tell he's off-station?"

"His Song is faint, very faint. If he were still nearby, it would be louder."

"What's going on?!" Aeron asked around a yawn as he turned the corner into the main hold. "Do you have _any_ idea the time...?" He trailed off. "Renn's gone again, isn't he?"

"It appears that way. It seems that he only left a couple of hours ago, but Kara insists he left the station." Liana paced for a moment. Then she stopped and looked between the two of them. "Did anything happen? The last time I saw him was when I left the hold earlier."

Aeron considered. "No.... I heard him use the 'fresher perhaps an hour after we all parted last night, but I didn't see him."

Two pairs of eyes turned to Kara.

"What?!" she asked, her cheeks burning.

"Kara," Liana said, "let me ask this as delicately as possible-"

"No," Kara said, "we did not sleep together. We... talked... for a while then we said good night and went separate ways."

Aeron's eyes went wide. "Ahem... right now, I suggest we activate his subdermal tracker."

"I agree," Liana said, moving purposefully toward the bridge. "It will take some time before his tracker activates and we can triangulate a location. In the meantime, I'll have T5 analyze the computer logs, but, well, it's Renn we're talking about. If he doesn't want us to find his tracks, we won't." She sighed as she settled at what was normally Renn's station to activate the tracking beacon.

While she was working at the console, it beeped an incoming message warning. "It looks like a video recording," Liana said.

Kara felt a surge of hope for a moment. "Maybe it's from Renn?"

Aeron crossed his arms over his chest in a classic, if self-unaware, Jedi pose. "Play it."

Liana hit the button and Meena's concerned face appeared on the screen.

"This message is for Captain Liana of the Wanderer. This is Meena Lanu. We met yesterday? I received a message from Rennie that has me worried. I think he probably didn't tell you, and I'm scared for him. If I'm wrong and Rennie's hearing this.... I'm sorry, but I couldn't take the risk that you might disappear again." She looked embarrassed, but went on.

"I'm en route right now to Nal Yeshu to meet Rennie's mother. He asked me to keep her safe. I think that's where Rennie is going too, to find whoever he thinks is threatening her." She paused. "I'm sorry, it hardly makes any sense to me either. Sometimes he goes too fast for me to keep up. But his message sounded like he didn't think he was coming back from this. I think he's in real trouble. I know I barely know anything about you, but I could tell how much you all mean to him. Captain, please, I'm begging you to help him if you can."

The message faded to black, as Meena cut off her recording.

"That idiot!" Liana's tail lashed angrily, and her ears were laid back almost flat against her head. "How could he?!"

"He's Renn," Aeron said. "That's how."

Kara couldn't help but agree.

The Captain slid out of Renn's chair and into the pilot's seat that she normally occupied. "T5, forget the computer logs. Calculate a jump to Nal Yeshu."

***

Renn found the door to his mother's apartment unlocked and ajar. The old apartment building hadn't changed much in six years. The residents may have come and gone, but the halls and rows of doors were still so familiar that it hurt.

He drew one of the two blasters he wore at his waist. "Ori Ket?" he called, nudging the door open further. No reply.

I'm home, he thought as he entered the dim room, his weapon raised and ready. He touched the panel by the door, and lights flickered on. The living space was neat, tidy and sparse, like a snapshot of his memories. He could almost see himself sitting with his mother and Meena on that shabby couch, watching a bad holodrama. Except now, the room was empty. Maybe Meena had gotten her to leave in time.

He went further into the apartment to check the bedrooms. His mother's room was also empty, but the bed was disheveled, as if she'd left it hastily. He took that as a good sign. The other, his old bedroom, had been left practically untouched since the day he departed. Everything was dusty, but otherwise just as he remembered it.

But now was not the time to get nostalgic. He had to find where Gaman was hiding. The other slicer had to be somewhere nearby.

He heard a sound in the front room, and peeked cautiously around the doorframe. A familiar Zabrak had entered the apartment. Great. The Exchange. There wasn't exactly a back way out of here. Renn was going to have to go through him to escape.

"Boss Tivosh," Renn said in a mockingly bright tone, keeping his blaster trained on the Zabrak as he stepped back into the living area. He drew his second blaster, and brought it up as well. "Long time, no see. Where are your bodyguards hiding?" He scanned the room for other figures, keeping his back to the wall.

Tivosh smiled slowly. "Taeren Ket," he said, pronouncing each syllable of Renn's old name as if it were a distinct word. "We've been keeping an eye on your lovely mother for you while you've been gone. It would be a shame were something to happen to her after losing her husband and son. So when she had an unexpected visitor, I had to come see who it was personally." He motioned toward Renn. "And here you are, her dead son come back to life."

"Where is she?!" Renn asked.

"Not here," Tivosh said. "Put the blasters down, boy. All we want is what's owed us."

Renn didn't move. "I don't owe you anything, Tivosh. You almost killed me."

"If you had just been willing to cooperate, Ket, then we wouldn't have had to. Your father might even still be alive, if he hadn't tried to intervene."

Renn's jaw tightened.

"Put the blasters down," Tivosh said again. "We are reasonable men, now, aren't we?"

"No, we're not," Renn said, and fired. His blaster bolts deflected harmlessly off the personal shield generator that Tivosh wore, which Renn hadn't even registered seeing. A pair of stun bolts struck him from a second shadow lurking in the hallway, and he slumped to the ground, groaning.

Tivosh shook his head sadly. "You know, we might have gotten out of this without any more bloodshed if you had just been willing to work with us."

That was the last thing Renn heard for a long while.

***

The tension aboard the ship was palpable over the two hours it took them to get to Nal Yeshu. They were all restless. Liana paced the cockpit the entire time, angry and worried simultaneously.

As soon as they came out of hyperspace, the tracker lit up and she practically pounced on the console to read it. "Got him. He's somewhere in the southeastern quadrant." She found a docking bay near the location and negotiated the exorbitant fee with the dock officials there. Liana hated doing business directly with Hutt officials on a good day, but today it only made her angrier.

"That idiot!" The words had become something of a mantra and a prayer to her Goddess to keep him safe until she arrived to beat him senseless herself. Although she suspected she was going to have to get in line behind Kara. She looked back at the girl, sitting nearby with Aeron. "Can you tell if he's nearby?"

Kara frowned. "He's here, but...." She said nothing for a long while.

"But..?" Aeron asked.

"It's... fuzzy. Like he's sort of here and sort of not." She glanced at Aeron as if seeking confirmation.

He nodded. "He's probably unconscious. We should-"

Liana hissed sharply, cutting off his words.

"What is it?" Aeron asked.

She stared down at the now-dark console. "The tracker's signal," she said. "It's gone."

***

Renn awoke to darkness. His hands and feet were not tied, but his blasters and tools were gone from his belt. Not only that, but his head was pounding, and the back of his neck stung. He raised a hand to his neck and it came away slick with blood.

He swore. They must've cut out his subdermal tracker while he'd been knocked out. With the Exchange involved, he was definitely in over his head now, and Liana wouldn't be able to find him without that implant.

With a groan, Renn levered himself to his feet. He didn't seem to have any other injuries, aside from the cut on his neck. As he was taking stock of himself, he heard the sharp sound of a door snapping open and whirled toward it.

A square of light opened in the darkness. Boss Tivosh was standing there in the hallway outside Renn's cell, his large frame taking up most of the doorway. Visible just behind the Zabrak's shoulder was a very familiar face indeed.

"Gaman," Renn growled. It was the first time they'd met in person, but he knew the man's face from years of what he'd thought were friendly messages and traded favors. "What are you doing here?" But he already knew. They had to be working together. That's why Gaman had lured him here. That's why the Exchange had been waiting for him.

"Imagine my surprise when I found out you were wanted by the Exchange," said Gaman, confirming his theory. "I agreed to help these gentlemen finish what you started. As payment, I get a cut and I get to finally be rid of you."

Renn's eyes narrowed. "Really? Did they tell you what it was they were doing? And how many people were going to get hurt?"

Gaman shrugged. "It's just business. You know that."

Tivosh motioned behind him, and two of his thugs, an Aqualish and a human, entered the cell to seize Renn by the arms. "Bring him," Tivosh said, turning and striding away, Gaman following behind him. Renn's captors dragged him after their boss.

They seemed to be keeping him in some kind of warehouse, Renn realized. The two thugs brought him to the middle of a large concrete floor. One of them shoved as they let go of him, so he fell in a heap in front of their boss. He sat on the floor where they dropped him, glaring up at Tivosh. "You have him to help you now," Renn said, "so you don't need me anymore. Is that it?"

"No." Tivosh pulled a stun baton from his belt. "You're our insurance policy, in case he can't do it." He nodded to his bodyguards. "Keep him alive," he said, smiling, "but make it hurt."

Mercifully, Renn lost consciousness just after he heard the too-loud sound of cracking bones.

***

Kara screamed and clutched at her left arm.

"Mistress Kara?" B4 asked. She and the droid were alone in the cargo hold, where she'd sought quiet to try and focus on honing in on her connection to Renn through their Force bond.

"I'm- I'm all right!" She gasped, still clutching her arm. The droid helped her up and together, they tottered toward the cockpit where Liana and Aeron were attempting to narrow the search via technological means.

Their trip was cut short by the others coming down the hallway from the cockpit. Aeron was holding his own left arm.

"You felt it too, I see," Kara said.

The Jedi nodded. "I couldn't get a sense of his location, beyond what we already know. You?"

She nodded. "I think so...."

Abruptly, T5 charged up the hall toward them.

"Oh, my!" B4 said. "He says someone is overriding the Wanderer's external security protocols!"

Before the confused knot of people could turn, the hatch opened. As they cleared the hallway to the main hold, they saw a dark-haired woman in a long flowing black leather coat storm her way aboard.

She held a heavy blaster pistol in each hand, and the way they tracked the crew's movements spoke of long-held competency with the weapons. Her human features were marred by a small scar across the bridge of her nose, and a black patch that covered her right eye, but this was almost completely obscured by her hair.

"Where the _hell,"_ she said, in a voice used to both yelling and obedience, "is my idiot son?!"

"What?!" Liana said, drawing her own blaster.

"Ori, wait!" Meena came scrambling up after the woman, a look of panic on her face. "Wait, these are Rennie's friends!" she said. "I called them here to help."

Kara blinked. "Meena?" Then she turned to the belligerent newcomer. "Your _son?!"_

The woman snorted and holstered her pistols. "Close your mouth, girl. You'll catch bugs." To Liana, she said, "Sorry about the misunderstanding. I'm Taeren's mother, Ori Ket. Tell me you have a line on my idiot son."

Liana holstered her own blaster as well, though she still seemed wary. "We might. Renn's tracker stopped transmitting, but we may have another way of finding him." She hesitated, looking at Aeron.

The Jedi nodded. "We were on our way to effect a rescue," he said. "I assume you will be joining us?"

Ori glared at Aeron. "What do you think?"

Meena grabbed Kara's arm and began dragging her toward the hatch. "Come on, we've got a speeder waiting!"

***

When he regained consciousness again, Renn fought tooth and nail to hang on to it, against the demands of his wounded body. He was back in that dark cell-like room again, he thought. The floor was cold beneath him, and he hurt everywhere.

He had lost of track of his injuries when he'd passed out. This time Tivosh hadn't been trying to get information out of him, so his thugs hadn't been as careful. They'd just been beating him for the fun of it, to satisfy Tivosh's personal grudge. He thought they had broken his arm, but more than that, he couldn't tell yet. It all merged into overwhelming pain, clouding his thoughts.

He'd screwed up. No one was coming for him. He wasn't going to survive this.

He wondered if Kara could still feel him through their bond, even as far away as he was. He didn't think she would give up on him. She had to be pissed as hell at him, too, for leaving again, especially after how they'd left things.

She was the last hope he had.

Help me, he whispered silently, Kara-

Consciousness slid away from him again.

***

Kara cried out and had to steady herself against the back of the seat in front of her. "Renn!"

"Kara?" Meena laid a hand on her shoulder in concern. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah... yeah... I'm fine," she said. "I just got a strong sense of Renn's presence. He was awake for a time, but he's passed out again. We're on the right track, though."

Seated up front next to the driver, Liana asked, "You were explaining how you found our ship?"

Ori kept her attention on the road and spoke sideways. "It wasn't much. Meena turned up at my bar a few hours ago, with some cockamamie story that my boy was still alive, and in trouble. When she explained what she knew, though, it sounded too much like Tae to be false."

Ori snapped the speeder around a large grav-hauler, missing it by a hair. "Take your half out of the middle, why dontcha, you Hutt-assed buffon?!" she said over her shoulder.

"Anyway," she said, as the rest of them checked that their stomachs were still where they'd left them, "I put a search command on the local landing registries for a Corellian JY model 750, and sure enough an entry came in tagged 'Wanderer'. Then we came a-knockin'."

Liana nodded. "Kara, are we getting close?"

"Yes.... He's in a large warehouse...."

"Of which there are several hundred in our vicinity," Ori said. _"Specifics,_ girl!"

"I can't _be_ specific!" Kara gasped. "But the sense is beginning to fade! Swing around and-"

The rest was a scream as Ori banked the speeder off another passing hauler, putting the vehicle's nose straight up. She bounced it off a pedestrian overpass before performing a vertical nose-over and barrel roll combination. The speeder settled into the opposite flow of traffic of the one they'd been in a second earlier.

Aeron leaned out of the open-air passenger compartment and retched violently.

"Warn us next time, Ori," Meena said weakly. Even Liana looked a bit green.

"Where's the fun in that?" Ori said.

Suddenly, Kara lunged forward to point at a building to their right. "That one! He's in there!"

"There's no one guarding the loading dock," Liana said. "Are you sure?"

"Completely!"

"Great! Good job, girl!" Ori said. To Meena, she added in an ironic voice, "Brace yourselves," before she gunned the engine.

Liana's eyes rolled frantically. "Are you going to ram the loading dock with your speeder?!"

Ori laughed. "This isn't _my_ speeder. I lifted the keys off a drunk from the bar!"

The speeder crashed through the warehouse wall and into a stack of shipping containers, which toppled into another stack and another. The noise was tremendous.

A moment later, lightsabers flashing, Kara and Aeron leapt from the ruined vehicle and landed with blades high and ready.

***

Renn awoke again to a crashing sound. It almost sounded like a bomb had gone off nearby. Maybe they were going to kill him after all, make it look like an accident.

No.

Wait.

There was light falling across the small cell now. It struck his face as he turned his head. Whatever that blast had been, it must have damaged the door. But more importantly, he could almost feel something familiar nearby, pulling at him urgently.

Kara. It had to be.

She'd come for him.

He slowly dragged himself toward that opening in the door, fighting through the pain.

***

Kara fell deep into the Music as she danced through a hail of blaster fire. Despite the carnage of their entry, Ori hadn't managed to squash any of the Exchange goons.

Now, four of them, two humans and two spider-like combat droids, laid down a withering hail of blaster fire, keeping her friends bottled up while the thugs called for reinforcements.

Kara and Aeron covered Ori, Liana and Meena as they scampered for cover. The thugs were smart enough to hang back and let the agile droids engage the Jedi. The droids fired while springing into ridiculously complex movements so none of their blaster bolts could be batted back and strike either of them.

Ori opened up on the pair of droids from her position, laying down a wide field of rapid fire meant less to hit the mark than to capture the robots' attention. Liana, meanwhile, calmly shot one of the human thugs in the chest as he leaned out from cover to fire on Aeron's exposed flank.

"Kara, Aeron," the Trianii called. "Do either of you see Meena?"

"No!" Aeron said, finally sending a blaster shot into the center mass of one of the droids. It fell in a sparking heap.

Ori cursed. "What is that damn fool doing?! She's gonna get herself killed!"

***

Gaman knew a bad bet when he saw one, and the odds on this wager had just turned sour.

Tivosh had four more thugs, including his massive Aqualish bodyguard and the Rodian who liked pain so much he gave Gaman the creeps. Gaman had two more of the modified assassin droids he'd kept as his own bodyguards since Falani had begun this vendetta against him, but that wasn't enough to deal with two Jedi.

"Boss...?" the Rodian asked. "It sounds like a war out there. Maybe we ought to cut and run."

Tivosh loosed a big booming laugh. "Hardly. Gaman here warned us about Ket's Jedi friends... so I asked a favor of the Overboss, just in case." He pressed a control on his wrist comm. From the rear of the warehouse a lumbering giant of a droid floated forward on a trio of repulsor-field legs.

Gaman's jaw dropped open. At first he thought it was a modified Republic war droid, but in addition to its twin cannon arms, a second pair of double-articulated limbs arched above its shoulders. At the end of each, a pair of glowing-hot vibroblades.

A Sith Death Spider... a Jedi Killer.

Tivosh pressed a few more buttons on is controller, and the Jedi Killer tramped out the door toward the fray.

"You all," the Exchange boss said, "go with 'im and wipe up whatever's left. Gaman and I'll stay here and guard the hall to Ket's cell."

Yeah, right.

Gaman unobtrusively melted back into the shadows. He couldn't leave without attracting notice, but he didn't have to be by the door when hell rolled in.

***

Meena knew she wasn't going to be any good in the fight. She barely knew how to use the blaster that they'd insisted on giving her. Although Ori had taught her some basic self-defense years ago, enough to protect herself if anyone grabbed her on the streets of Nal Yeshu, there was nothing she could do to help two Jedi without getting in their way.

So instead, she decided to go looking for Renn and scout the rest of the building. If he was unconscious, like Kara had said earlier, he might be too hurt to move. If she could find him, maybe she could get him back to the others, or at least tell them where he was being kept if she couldn't move him herself.

She slipped around the side of the warehouse's big room while the other four held their opponents' attention. It looked like a short hallway went back this way, with smaller rooms on either side. That would probably be where they were keeping him prisoner.

Meena froze and flattened herself against the wall around the corner as a huge droid roared down the hall. Thankfully, it seemed to have focused on the Jedi as the main threat and passed right by her. A couple of smaller droids and other thugs went with it, not even looking her way. She peeked around the corner. It looked clear now.

She had just started down the hall when a hand suddenly grabbed her arm and spun her around roughly.  She fumbled with her blaster. The Rodian who had hold of her arm wrenched it behind her. She dropped the weapon, but still barely managed to spin and twist away from his grip before he could pull her closer.

Her assailant pulled a vibroknife from his belt. He stood between her and her path back to the others. She was out of sight of them, too, so she couldn't rely on anyone seeing that she was in trouble.

He came at her with the knife. She didn't quite move quickly enough, and the blade left a surface scratch on the forearm she'd brought up to protect herself, tearing her jumpsuit. Her opponent leered at her. She glared back.

The next time he lunged toward her, she dodged gracefully, then spun and kicked him in the back as he continued to move forward. He overbalanced and fell hard, propelled by the force of the blow.

While he was down, Meena kicked him in the head to make sure he wasn't getting up again anytime soon. Then, for good measure, she stomped on his hand and kicked the knife away.

She hesitated then, unsure what to do. She was certain that Renn was being held nearby, but if that huge droid took out his Jedi friends, none of them were getting out of here alive. She picked up her dropped blaster. There wasn't anything she could do against the droid with this tiny pistol. Maybe she could figure out a way to drop some cargo containers on it with some of the equipment. She bit her lip, then scanned frantically for something in the warehouse that might help.

***

Aeron flipped clear as one of the huge droid's vibroblades whipped by close enough to give him a shave. He landed on his feet three meters behind his previous position and brought his sapphire blade back up to ready position.

His maneuver had bought him enough time to survey the battle. Kara was dancing around the droid's other side, her lightsaber in its twin short blade configuration. Less reach, but better for parrying the whirling dervish of the monster machine's vibroblade assault. Off to his right, Ori and Liana were hard-pressed by two of the Exchange goons, and two more of those damn agile assassin droids. It was only a matter of time before they were overrun.

Behind the goons was an Aqualish so heavily muscled that he had to be the local Boss's enforcer. He stood well back of the engagement, hands crossed above his chest in open defiance, rumbling the watery gurgle that passed for laughter among his kind.

He'd do, Aeron decided.

Leaping away from another mad swipe by the Sith droid, Aeron shot out his free hand to full extension and seized the chortling thug in a strong Force grip, then quite literally smashed him into the backs of his comrades. The droids dodged, but the human goons were not so fortunate. The three of them spilled into the center of the floor in a tangle of limbs.

A tangle that was quickly bracketed by more of Ori's rapid fire blaster spread.

"Thanks, Jedi!" Renn's mother said. "Now mind your _own_ business before that thing chops you both up for fishbait!"

Aeron was about to reply when he both heard and felt Kara scream a warning.

He whirled to find, not the huge droid, but an equally large forklift barreling toward him at top speed. Springing almost straight up, Aeron evaded the careening vehicle by a hair, just in time to see a very wide-eyed Meena at the controls. Her course would carry her and her makeshift ram into the war droid's rear, but there was no way at this speed that she would escape without serious injury.

Once more, Aeron reached out with the force, plucking the Twi'lek girl neatly from the operator's seat and deftly snatching her at the top of her arc.

The Jedi landed softly, with the breathless dancer cradled gently, but securely, in his arms.

The forklift slammed into the war droid and continued on, barely missing Kara as she flung herself clear. It smashed into the warehouse's far wall, its lifting prongs embedding themselves over a meter into the durocrete and crushing the war machine flat.

Aeron glanced from the carnage down to Meena's wide, trembling eyes. He tried not to notice how her heavy breathing made her bosom heave, or the admittedly quite pleasant way she squished against his chest as she clung to him.

"It's all right now," he said with a warm smile. "You're safe. That was very clever, and bravely done."

"Thanks," Meena said. "And, um, sorry about almost hitting you." There was a little bit of a pink flush to her purple skin. "I think I found where they're keeping Rennie." She pointed to a doorway in the rear of the warehouse. "But I didn't get a chance to search the whole area."

Aeron turned to look the way she pointed, only to see a blond ponytail and golden lightsabers flying that way as Kara charged headlong down the hall.

It suddenly occurred to Aeron that never in his life had he been this attuned to the Force. It was as if the river flowed free, wide and deep. But even as he marvelled in the feeling, the boulder appeared once more, choking the river back to a bare trickle.

He nearly screamed in frustration and loss, but now was not the time. Setting Meena back on her feet, he followed Kara into the dark.

***

Gaman knew the fight was not going his way. Shrinking back into the shadows a bit more, he thought wildly of a way to turn this to his advantage, but then the door literally flew off its hinges.

In the chaos, Gaman dove under a nearby table. He didn't have to look to know who stood in that doorway. He could hear the twin hum of lightsabers. Kara Tao Vanden.

Swallowing hard, Gaman prepared to meet any god he could remember the name of.

Tivosh, the idiot, stood blocking the hallway that was their only chance of escape. Damn it all to hell, Gaman didn't want to die here, in some unknown warehouse on a backwater, third-rate Hutt world. Certainly not because that moron Tivosh had to go out in a blaze of futility.

"Where," Vanden said, "is he?"

Tivosh stayed silent.

"Let me try that again. Where. Is. He?"

"Ket? He's dead. I stomped on his neck myself. Snapped it like a brittle twig, not five minutes ago."

Then, to Gaman's astonishment, she closed down and dropped her lightsabers. "Really?" she asked. "That was not a good idea."

"Why not?" The Zabrak sneered at her. "It seemed the thing to do at the time."

Oh yes, _banter_ with the girl.... How did I ever let myself get talked into _dealing_ with this buffoon?

"Because," she said, "he's the only one who could have gotten me to stop."

Gaman was grateful he couldn't see what she did, but with a meaty thud, Tivosh doubled over. Then she hit him again, and again. The Exchange boss cried out in pain as she pummeled him, but it just made the blows come faster. After a time, the impacts changed from dull, solid sounds to wet, squelchy ones. But still, the beating continued.

This girl was no Jedi.... She was far, far worse.

But then, the fear crystallized, and he saw a gift from those hastily named gods sitting just inches beyond his concealment. Her lightsabers, both of them upon the floor, forgotten.

Girding what remained of his courage, Gaman quietly slunk from beneath the table. He took up one of the blades and reversed the grip, so its emitter pointed down, then he advanced on the distracted girl's back.

So focused on her revenge, she never even twitched toward him, never turned, never saw. Gaman raised the ancient weapon, and moved his thumb over the activation stud.

***

Renn barely managed to pull himself to his feet using the doorframe of the room they'd been keeping him in. As he'd expected, his left arm was useless weight right now. He'd accidentally jostled it earlier while trying to reach the door, and the world had gone white for a moment as he'd almost passed out.

At first, he couldn't tell what was happening through the pain and his clouded thoughts.

A presence pulled at him. Kara. Did that mean Aeron and Liana were here as well? But he didn't have time to look for them.

His eyes found Kara, but what she was doing didn't register. Instead, he saw Gaman make his move. The man stooped to pick up one of Kara's lightsabers, then approached her from behind, lifting the weapon.

Renn's own blasters, which Tivosh's guards had taken from him, lay discarded on the ground nearby. He fell to his knees and scrambled for one of them awkwardly.

He aimed the blaster at Gaman's back. It shook in his right hand, his weaker hand. His grip almost faltered.

No, he needed to focus. If he did nothing, she would die. Because of him.

Gritting his teeth, he fought through the pain to steady the blaster and fire.

Renn stayed up long enough to see Gaman fall before he toppled forward himself. The world went searing white again as he landed hard on his broken arm.


	5. Found

When Renn next awoke, he found himself again in the familiar medbay aboard the Wanderer. He hurt everywhere, and he felt exhausted. He couldn't remember how he'd gotten here. He couldn't remember much past the beating from Tivosh and his men. His memories were fuzzy and jumbled.

Deja vu. Except this time, it wasn't Liana sitting beside the bed when he woke up.

Ori Ket sat in a chair close to his bedside, with her arms crossed over her chest, her head leaned back and her one visible eye closed.

His throat felt tight. "Mom," he whispered.

Her head snapped forward, and her eye opened. "Taeren," she said. She looked at him silently for a long moment. "Meena told me what happened."

"I'm sorry, Mom," he said. "I was trying to protect you-"

Her hand cracked across his cheek, stinging. "Okay, I deserved that," he said, his voice hoarse.

"I can protect myself!"

He shut his mouth on further words, seeing the fierce, angry look on her face.

"How can you be so smart and still so kriffing stupid?" she said. "I spent years thinking my only child was dead. I blamed your father for taking you, but I blamed myself for not being strong enough to stop it. I blamed myself for not being able to protect _you_."

"I'm sorry," he said. It was not nearly apology enough, but he didn't have any other words.

She leaned in and her voice lost all heat. She spoke instead in a deadpan calm that was so much worse. "You do anything like this ever again, I will kick your ass from here to Coruscant." She laid her hand, gently this time, against his stinging cheek. Then she slid forward and hugged him tightly around the neck, kneeling beside the bed.

"I missed you too, Mom." His left arm was bound close to his body to keep him from moving it, but he wrapped his right arm around her shoulders.

A movement caught his eye and he saw Meena hovering in the entrance to the medbay. She looked sheepish when she met his gaze. "Sorry, Rennie, I broke my promise...." She just managed to get the words out before she started crying, and then she was there at his side, too, hugging them both.

He told them everything again, in bits and starts, including what he'd glossed over in his original explanation to Meena. They told him how they and the Wanderer's crew had found him. His friends had refused to give up on him, even after everything he'd done.

When the explanations had finished and quiet stretched between the three of them, Ori sat back on her heels. "I promised your Captain I'd let her know when you woke up."

"Mom?" he asked, as she stood up. "Can you tell Liana I want to talk to them? Just the three of them."

His mother nodded approvingly. "I'll tell her. Meena, help him get up and dressed."

"Ori," Meena said, "he shouldn't be out of bed yet."

Ori's stern gaze fixed, not on Meena, but on Renn. "This isn't a conversation you can have lying on your back, helpless," she said. "You can't change what you've done. You can't take it back. You need to face your consequences head on. You know that, right, kid?"

"Yeah," he said, "I know." He leaned on Meena as she came over to help him out of bed. His mother was right. He needed to stand and face them, and tell them the truth. He owed it to them. "Mom?"

"Hmm?" She glanced back at him.

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me," she said. "Thank your girlfriend. She's the one that found you."

Renn flushed. "She's not...."

Ori gave him a knowing look, then left.

***

"Captain Liana?"

"Yes?" Liana stood and turned to see Renn's mother, Ori Ket, standing in the cockpit doorway.

"Sorry again about earlier," Ori said.

Liana smiled at the other woman. "It's understandable. You were concerned for your child. I would have done the same." She tilted her head. "Is he awake?"

"He is. The doc said he'll be fine in few weeks, by the way, if he takes it easy," Ori replied. "He wants to talk to you three in private." She hesitated, then went on. "Tae's been telling me what you've done for him," she said. "How you saved his life and rescued him. I'm glad he found good people." She held out her hand. "Thank you for taking care of my idiot son."

Liana let out a snort of laughter, and clasped Ori's hand. "It's been my pleasure. Mostly. Although I'm very tempted to give him back after this last stunt."

Ori smirked at that. Liana could see where Renn had gotten that mannerism from. "That's your choice to make, and his. He's a big boy now." Renn's mother let go of Liana's hand, nodded, and left the cockpit.

Over her comlink, Liana asked Kara and Aeron to join her in the medbay.

***

Renn was standing when his crewmates came into the medbay, though he kept his good hand on the table to steady himself. After his mother had gone, Meena had helped him awkwardly pull on some clothes, working around his injuries. Getting a shirt on over his broken arm wasn't quite possible, so she'd just draped the sleeve over it, but otherwise, he was more or less presentable.

As Meena helped him get dressed, she told him about his mother's medic friend, who had treated the worst of his injuries on Nal Yashu before they'd moved him back to the ship. If it weren't for those kolto treatments, he would probably have been in much worse shape. She wouldn't tell him exactly how bad it had been, but he remembered enough about the beating he'd taken that he didn't press her for details.

Renn looked around at the familiar space. Some of his first conversations with Liana had happened in this same room, by this same table and bed. It was eerie, to be here again in much the same state as before. Injured and broken, but not past repair.

He turned his attention to the three of them. None of them had sat down. Liana and Aeron were watching him, but Kara was staring at the floor.

"I should probably introduce myself." Renn took a deep breath, ignoring their perplexed looks. This was long overdue. "My name, my _real_ name, is Taeren Ket. The Exchange probably has a price out on my head, now that they know I'm alive. I betrayed them, and I've been dodging them for the past six years."

He looked down. "I'm sorry. I screwed up, and I put all of you in danger. Because I was... scared, and not thinking straight. I let myself get obsessed with revenge. I thought I could do it alone. I thought I could keep you out of my mess. I should have come to you before haring off on my own."

He finally looked up and met Liana's eyes. He needed to say this to her, most of all. "I'm sorry I've been lying to you for so long, Captain. I don't expect any of you to forgive me, but I owe you — all of you — the truth."

Liana walked over and held a hand out to him. He took it gingerly with his good hand. To his surprise, she pulled him into a gentle embrace. "What you call yourself doesn't matter. I know who you are, Renn."

"Liana-"

She cut him off. "Hush," she said. "Let me say this to you. I would not let anyone take you from me, no matter what trouble you've brought me. Renn, you are my partner, my dearest friend, and the son I never had."

She stroked his hair. "But," she said, as if she hadn't heard the choked sound he made, "if you ever do anything this stupid again, I am going to chain you to your bunk for the rest of your life."

Renn tried to protest, but it came out as a half-laugh, half-sob instead. His heart wasn't in the objection anyway; in fact, his heart felt like it was on the floor shattered into a million pieces right now. He buried his face in the fur of her shoulder as she held him.

Liana nuzzled him affectionately. "You need to trust us, Renn. We can't help you if you won't let us."

"I know," he said.

Aeron stepped up to Renn's other side and laid a hand on his uninjured shoulder. "That was the hardest thing I've ever witnessed a man do. Taeren, Renn, the jerk I share a room with.... You are _you._ As you will always be." He wiggled his eyebrows with an impish grin. "Rennie."

"If my arm wasn't in a sling, I would punch you," Renn said, but there was no heat in his retort.

Liana chuckled and put one arm around Aeron, too, for a moment.

Then Aeron and Liana both looked to Kara, who'd said nothing this entire time, standing with her hands clasped in front of her, and her eyes on the floor. Renn tried to look _anywhere_ but in her general direction.

The awkward moment stretched.

At length, she tentatively inched towards them, her right leg making an odd clump sound as she limped over.

Renn's eyes went wide as he noticed her gait.

Kara's expression softened reassuringly, then she grimaced and elbowed Aeron. Hard.

"It's _not_ my fault!" Aeron said, rubbing at his sore upper arm with his other hand.

"No, it's mine." Renn looked away from Kara. She was hurt because she had put herself in danger to save him.

"Yeah," Kara said, in a ghost of her spunky off-hand manner, "but if I punch you, both your mothers will probably kill me."

Liana laughed again. "It's fine with me," she said.

Renn snorted. "Mom already slapped me for being an idiot, if that makes you feel any better. I deserved it."

Kara slowly, gently reached forward and bopped Renn on the top of his head with one fist. "Dummy," she said, around fresh tears.

"Yeah, I am." Renn reached for her with his good hand, and hugged her as best he could.

Liana shifted to help support Kara's weight on her temporarily bum leg. The three of them began to topple, until Aeron entered the embrace to hold them up.

Four broken, lost souls. Supporting one another.

Renn decided he could live with that metaphor.

***

Liana helped him to his bunk after that. He'd had enough of sleeping in the medbay. She hadn't objected to him moving back to his own bed, but she _had_ practically forced painkillers down his throat, and ordered him to contact someone over his comlink if he needed help.

He slept fitfully, until the sound of the door opening again brought him back to full consciousness.

"Aeron?" Renn asked. His voice was hesitant.

"Yes?" the Jedi said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I thought you'd be sound asleep by now."

"It's fine." After a moment, Renn said, "I've been thinking, since I got back. I wanted to ask you something." He had been swallowing his pride an awful lot the past few days. He could do it once more. "Would you help me... stop shouting? If you're still willing to? I don't want to keep hurting Kara with this."

Renn wasn't sure what he expected Aeron's response to be, but it was simple and earnest. "I'd be happy to. For now, get some sleep. We can begin in the morning."

***

The next morning, Aeron woke to find Renn not only already awake, but gone from the dormitory.

He rose, washed, and dressed, then went forth in search of his new student.

He found Renn surveying the cargo hold, an intense frown on his face.

"Is there a problem?" Aeron asked, noting as he did so that his voice echoed strangely in the surprisingly vast space.

"Yeah, we have no cargo," Renn said. "Which means we're not making any money, which means we'll have to dip into reserves just to resupply." He shook his head.

"That is a problem. But it can't be helped. We _were_ a bit busy just recently," Aeron said with a smile.

Renn grumbled, but didn't reply with his expected snark. "Sorry," he said. He looked over at the Jedi. His next words were hesitant. "Thanks for agreeing to help me."

"You are most welcome," Aeron said. "Have you ever meditated before? Or engaged in any form of focus or concentration enhancement?"

"No." Renn shook his head. "But I understood all those words individually."

"Ah, then we'll begin with the basics. Find a comfortable seat. Lay down if you'd prefer. What we're working on today is disassociating yourself from your emotional state. The first step is to stop letting your body distract you."

"Okay." Renn sat on the floor awkwardly, with his back against one of the crates of spare ship parts along the wall of the hold.

"All right. Now, think back. Try to recall a time when you were feeling content. Not happy or joyous; those are active emotions. They'll do for this, but contentment is better. It's passive, calm. Don't worry if a memory is good enough or not. As long as you can recall that feeling, it will serve." Aeron sank to his own seated position several feet from the other man.

"If you feel the need, close your eyes... there's no right or wrong way to do this. _Do_ you recall such a memory?"

Renn frowned a little, and closed his eyes. Then, after a long moment, he said, "I think so."

"Good. Now, try to recall as much about it as you can. Don't rush, just try and recall the texture of the feeling. How you were standing or sitting, what you smelled, what you saw. The colors, the sounds, the sensations. Let them flow together.... The goal isn't perfect recall; it's just to calm your mind. Take your time.... Just let it flow."

Aeron allowed himself just a cursory glance at the currents of the Force that swirled around Renn. Since he had met the man, they were swift, turbulent and always tinged, not with darkness, but with worry.

Now, the Force about Renn was calmer, but the tinge remained. The dull, cold gray of a good man eaten by tremendous guilt. Aeron nodded. "Good, Renn. You're getting it. This is your passive state. Not quiet or inactive, just passive. Let the currents carry you, let the stress and the negativity wash through you, but don't cling to it. Let it leave you.... Yes, that's right."

A slight golden glow of joy entered the Force stream, It took Aeron a moment to realize it was coming from Renn. Soon enough, though, even this waned, and flowed down the river of all life.

A tentative footstep nearby and the softest coo of a half-realized word.

Kara.

She retreated immediately, leaving the two of them alone again, but already her brief presence had altered things immeasurably. Renn's turbulence was back, buffeting his thoughts and emotions like a man tossed into an angry white river.

The gentle, passive glow fled just as quickly and Renn opened his eyes.

Aeron looked at him in concern. "I... think we need to talk."

"Huh?" Renn blinked at him. "About what?"

"When Kara stepped in here just now, your whole being changed. I was not looking into your thoughts, but the very Force about you was almost roiling. Many things have happened to both of you... and I think, mostly, they have been for the greatest ill."

"So what are you saying?" Renn was instantly defensive. "You think I'm bad for her, huh?"

"In your current state, yes. I think you confuse each other, and it has significant negative effects on both of you... but more so for her. She killed Boss Tivosh."

Any calm Renn had achieved was completely gone as he glared across at the Jedi. "You think that's wrong?!" he asked. "I can't tell you exactly how many people he killed, but one of them was my father. Maybe Tivosh didn't pull the trigger himself every time, but he ordered it done. Oh, and did I mention he tortured a sixteen-year-old kid?" His voice was absolutely venomous, full of old pain. "So you know what I think? The galaxy is well rid of a monster like him."

Aeron held up one palm. "Peace, Renn. You have misunderstood me. Tivosh was a monster. That is not open to discussion. But Kara not only killed him, she literally beat him to death. With her bare hands. I arrived too late to stop her."

"What?!" Renn's jaw fell open in shock.

"There is... there is a core of anger, of darkness in Kara. It has always been there, but since her time with the Sith last year, it has been largely dormant... until now."

"And you think I'm, what, making it worse?"

"No. And yes. She attacked Tivosh not because she was threatened by him, not because he was a monster... but because he had harmed you. I think she felt the loss of her family all over again. All of her anger concentrated in one transcendent, terrible moment."

"Oh." Renn's face fell. "Oh, no."

"She was on the very ragged edge of becoming something infinitely worse than Venaar." Aeron sighed. "But do you know what pulled her back at the last instant?"

Renn shook his head.

"You did. You rose through your own immeasurable pain to save her life."

"I- I did?"

"I'm not surprised you don't remember. You passed out immediately afterward. But yes, you did." Aeron placed a supportive hand on Renn's shoulder. "I think you are not just a lure to the darkness, but to the light as well. Be her strength, Renn. She needs you right now, more than ever, in her life."

Renn's eyes were distant, as if he was very deep in thought. "You know, I don't entirely understand all this stuff," he said at last. "I'm probably going to screw up again without help." It sounded almost like he was making a peace offering, in a very Renn sort of way. "I think... we'd have more luck trying to pull her back from the edge working together."

"I agree. What we've done here this morning is a good start. If we can stop negative emotions from intensifying through your bond, eventually you can learn to channel positive emotions, to reinforce her inherent light."

"Sounds like the Jedi equivalent of eating your veggies."

Aeron laughed. "It is. Now, let's try to reach your passive state again...."

After a few more hours, Renn came up out of the trance on his own. Aeron nodded in satisfaction. "Excellent work, I suggest we stop for the day. If you feel yourself becoming upset or angry, try to return to your passive state. At the very least, it should help calm the bond."

"If it leads to a good night's sleep, I'm all for it." Renn stood and left, saying he needed to check in with Liana.

Aeron let him go. But as Renn left the hold, he felt again that presence in his mind, the obstinate block between him and the greater Force. As it seemed to at times, the block spoke, not in words, but sensations.

It understood, and approved.

***

Liana sighed, grateful for the moment's peace of being alone in the cockpit. Her small ship was feeling crowded with two extra bodies aboard. Ori's home on Nal Yeshu was not safe, and Meena wasn't sure if Novus Station would be any safer for them to hide. So the Wanderer now had two more passengers, at least in the short term.

Meena had taken the third bunk in the dormitory that Kara and Liana shared. Renn's mother had been sleeping in the medbay until he woke up, and had just decided to stay there rather than put someone else out of their bed, or embarrass the boys by 'crashing their room'.

Liana had to admit she liked the woman, rough as she was. She could see in Ori the source of Renn's dark sense of humor, as well as his resolve. Ori and Meena were also a great source of embarrassing childhood stories about her partner, which Liana was carefully filing away for future use.

Plans had been put on hold due to needing to rescue Renn. But now they needed a path forward. Her ship had nowhere to go right now, except away from Hutt Space and the Exchange's base of power. Renn hadn't said it in so many words, but the death of Tivosh was not going to be the end of this. Whatever the Exchange wanted from him — and Renn hadn't fully explained it yet — that wasn't going away. Tivosh's bosses would come after him, too.

At least it's not us against a Sith fleet this time, she thought.

She heard the door open, and turned to see Renn come in. He stalked over and dropped into his usual seat beside hers. "You're aware we have absolutely no cargo right now?"

Liana blinked at him. "Yes. We were in a bit of a hurry," she said. "You know, to save you from your own stupidity."

Renn flushed. "This is why we never have money," he said. "The rest of you have the business sense of a bantha." She smiled, despite herself. That was almost back to normal for him. Good. She was getting a little tired of him moping around and being angry at everything.

"We have bigger concerns than money right now, Renn," Liana said. "We need to find a way to get you clear of the Exchange."

"I know. I've been thinking about that. I'm... going to need some help."

Liana chuckled. "I thought that was a given." She glanced across at him again. "What were you and Aeron doing up so early this morning?"

"Huh? Oh. Nothing."

That was not a "nothing", that was an "I don't want to talk about it". Well, as long as they weren't fighting or doing damage to her ship, it wasn't any of her business what her children did in their spare time. She engaged the autopilot. "I think we should call a meeting and discuss how to proceed."

"Right." Renn sighed.

She touched his shoulder gently, and then headed to the galley to prepare enough caf for all of them. They were likely going to need it.

***

Liana had asked them all to come to the main hold about mid-afternoon, ship time, and now her little crew and their guests were sitting around the table. Renn sat tinkering with some kind of device as best he could with only one good hand. Ori sat on the acceleration couch against the wall. Meena was sitting nearby, chatting with Aeron. Liana thought they might be trying to embarrass Renn, from the way they kept glancing over at him. Kara sat on the other side of the table from them, quietly looking down at her hands.

The Trianii stood, and rapped her fist gently on the table. The conversation died down as they all looked at her.

"I asked you all here because we have a rather large problem that we need to deal with," she said. "Renn is still in danger from the Exchange. Possibly all of us are as well. We're flying blind. We need to know the truth of this, and come up with a course of action."

"It would be tough, but I could probably change the ship's ID and spin up new identities for all of us, if you're worried about that." Renn's expression said he didn't much like this idea himself. "I... don't recommend living like that. It's too easy to make mistakes. One of us slips up, it's all over."

Kara's head snapped up. "I am _not_ changing my name. It- it's all I have left of my parents. Repudiating my identity is _not_ an option."

"Okay, okay," Renn said, defensive. "It was a bad idea anyway."

"I agree," Liana said. "That is no solution." She looked at her partner. "I think we need to know more about exactly why they're after you, Renn."

"It's really complicated and technical," he said.

"Give us the simple version, then," Liana said.

Renn glanced quickly at Ori, then back down at the table. "My father worked as a slicer for the Exchange. He did jobs for that boss, Tivosh. Sometimes, when Dad had something he couldn't handle by himself, he would get me to help."

Ori snarled something under her breath. Liana couldn't quite make out the words. She gathered it consisted largely of swearing, though.

Renn shook his head. "One of the things Tivosh wanted my father to do was put a backdoor into a really high-security computer system. Basically, it's a direct line into every financial system in the known galaxy. Republic, Sith, Hutts, everything goes through it at some point. Dad gave the job to me. I just thought it was a fun challenge, so I did it. I found out later, Tivosh had a bunch of people killed just to get us in a position to do it....

"Long story short, when I realized exactly what they'd had me do, and how much damage it would cause, I told him I wouldn't give him the activation sequence for the backdoor." He looked a little frustrated at having to dumb down his explanation. "Think of it like the key to open the door, but it's a little more complicated than that."

He looked up at Liana. She gave him a small nod of encouragement. She already knew most of this part of the story, but it was up to him whether he wanted to tell the others.

"I refused to tell them how to use it. That's when Tivosh tried torturing me to get what he wanted."

Renn jumped as Ori slammed her hand into the table. "What?!"

"I think Dad tried to save me," he said. "I don't know exactly what happened, because I wasn't conscious, but that's how I wound up in the escape pod where Liana found me."

Kara was obviously confused. "Excuse the refugee farm girl who doesn't understand this techno thing you do.... What do you mean by 'backdoor'?"

"A backdoor is a secret access point in a secure computer system," Renn said. "The backdoor they had me install is in a computer that controls all the financial transactions in the galaxy. If the Exchange can open it, they can transfer funds free of Republic oversight, bribe or blackmail politicians at will... no one would be safe."

Kara seemed to digest that for a moment. "But, if they know where the door is, can't they just, I don't know, pick the lock?"

Renn actually smiled in appreciation of his own cleverness. "That's the thing, they can't. The key to the backdoor is a specific set of transactions, from certain accounts, of certain trivial amounts, in a certain time frame. With me so far?"

Kara looked unsure, but nodded.

"I see," Aeron said. "For example, let's assume you have one of the accounts, and I have the other. If I send you the right amount of credits, at the right time, and you send _me_ the right amount back according to the schedule, the backdoor opens. If we're off by a centicred, or a minute early, the backdoor doesn't open."

"Exactly right," Renn said. "They know roughly what opens the door, but not the right numbers. If they just guess randomly, they risk the system's security learning of the backdoor's existence, and removing it."

"Got it, thanks," Kara said with another nod. "So, what do we do?"

Monumental silence greeted that one.

At length, Meena asked, "What if the backdoor wasn't there anymore? Wouldn't that sort of end the Exchange's interest in Rennie?"

Renn frowned. "Maybe. I mean, Tivosh had a personal vendetta against me, and he's... gone. I don't think his boss much cares about me, except that I'm the only one that can get them in to the system now."

"The Exchange, as a criminal society, is all about power and position," Aeron said. "If we removed the lure of this backdoor, they would likely cease looking for him. Continuing to do so would be admitting a scruffy-looking freight hauler's assistant got the better of them."

"There's just one problem with that idea," Renn said, glaring at the Jedi. "Remember how I said it was a high-security system? Changing the code requires direct access. I mean, I could write the new code here as a patch, but I'd need physical access to the system to upload and integrate it."

Ori spoke up. "Sneaking into a secure datacenter like that is going to require a light touch... and more spycraft than faking a janitorial uniform. Anybody here trained in high-level espionage and infiltration?"

Stone silence.

She eased back into the acceleration couch she was sitting on and propped her feet on the arm, cupping the back of her head with both hands, a wicked grin stretching her features. "Let me rephrase the question... is anyone _else_ trained in it."

Kara blinked. "I assume you are?"

Ori nodded. "Sure am. You tell me where this facility is, I can plan it."

Renn stared at her in shock. "You never told me that!"

"'Cause you were a _kid._ Besides, what I did was always classified. And I quit when I had you anyway."

Liana tilted her head at the other woman. "I thought so. You move too well not to have been trained. But this seems like a large operation. Would we be able to do something like this with just the six of us and two droids?"

Ori snorted and pointed at each of them in turn: Renn, "slicer"; Liana, "getaway pilot"; Aeron and Kara, "muscle"; herself, "brains"; and B4 and T5, "droids that can pass for the sorts you find in offices all over the galaxy. My old special ops team wasn't so well-rounded."

"What about me?" Meena looked a bit crestfallen.

"Don't worry, kiddo," Ori said. "You're a floater. Every op I ever ran needed someone who could help with a bit of everything. That's you."

Meena brightened. "As long as I don't wind up the skimpily-clad distraction."

Aeron, in the midst of taking a sip of caf, almost choked.

Meena glanced over at Kara, thoughtfully. "I think she'd be much cuter in the skimpy outfits anyway."

Renn dropped the device he'd been fidgeting with, and it skittered across the floor with a loud clatter.

Kara shared a raised eyebrow liberally about the room, but made no further comment.

"Focus, children," Liana said. "Renn, do you have the information on the building?"

"Um. Yeah. Hang on." He fumbled for his datapad one-handed, and began furiously tapping, until he brought up a schematic.

Ori studied the projection. "Do we know where this building is? Not just the planet, but region, municipality, stuff like that?"

"It's on Brentaal IV. The capital, Cormond." Renn tapped a few more times on his datapad, and the display changed to show the requested information.

Kara frowned, and Liana remembered her distrust of dense urban areas. "Of course it's in a big city," she said.

Ori shook her head. "That's actually a huge advantage for us. It gives us a reason to be in the area. If this were some deserted area or a military base in the middle of nowhere, we'd have a harder time even getting close."

"What would be really nice is having some cargo to deliver there," Renn said, giving Liana a pointed look.

She tried not to roll her eyes at her partner. "That's actually not a bad idea, though. It would give us a legitimate excuse to be there."

Ori nodded. "Legitimate covers are always the best." Then she paused and swept all of them with a serious look. "What we're doing is on the side of the light, but it sure as hell ain't legal. Right now, we're just talking, just speculating. The _moment_ we start really digging into this, though, we're crossing a big black line."

Aeron snorted. "What you're asking, Mrs. Ket, is if anyone has any qualms about knowingly breaking the law for a friend. Well, been there, done that."

Renn laughed. "Have we finally corrupted our pet Jedi?"

Aeron rolled his eyes. "No, if I saw a suffering being on the opposite side of a border I could not legally cross, I would give them aid regardless of the crime I'd commit in crossing that line." He smiled. "However when we first met, you would not stick your neck out for the good of anyone else. Yet here you are... saving your own neck, I admit, but doing so in a way that will benefit the entire galaxy. Corrupting me? I'd say I've finally redeemed _you."_

Renn stared at Aeron, and for once he seemed to be struck speechless. Meena started laughing as if Renn's expression were the funniest thing she'd seen in a long time.

Liana shook her head at them. She looked over at Kara. The girl had been unusually quiet, aside from asking for explanations, and Liana was worried about her. "Are you all right with this?" she asked.

Kara sighed. "Yes. I just.... No, I'm fine with it. Let's do it."

Liana wasn't convinced, but let it go for now. That was a talk to have in private. "I think we're all decided then," she said. "What are our next steps?"

Ori rubbed at her jaw as she thought about it, a habit Liana had seen in Renn on more than one occasion. At length, she said, "You and the two Jedi do whatever you gotta do to find a cargo bound for Brentaal IV. In the meantime, Tae and I will start some of the cyber legwork on intel gathering."

She paused. "Once we're there, depending on your usual turnaround time, we might need a reason to hang around for a while. Maybe hyperdrive trouble or the like... but that's a problem for tomorrow. Let's get going on fixing today."

As the meeting was breaking up, Liana touched Kara's arm. "Can I speak to you a moment?" she asked. When the girl nodded, Liana led her into their dormitory room, and locked the door behind them for privacy.

"Something is bothering you," Liana said. It was not a question.

"Many somethings, actually. I can't put names to most of them."

Liana nodded. "If you want to talk, I will always be here to listen."

That made Kara smile. "I know, Liana, it's just.... " The smile faded. "I guess I'm still processing everything that's happened with Renn."

The young woman sat heavily on her bunk and looked down at her hands. "I want to be happy for him, but.... I don't know, something just keeps getting in the way."

Liana sat next to her. "A lot has happened in a short time," she said. "It's okay if you are not sure how to feel. I admit, I am still sorting it out myself. Our little family is changing."

Kara's voice dwindled to a croaking whisper. "Family.... I'm not even sure I deserve that word anymore."

"You are part of mine," Liana told her, pulling her into an embrace and stroking her hair. "I do not give my family up easily."

"I know," Kara said against her furred shoulder. But then she withdrew, and seemed to get a hold of herself. "But... Renn got his back. He hadn't lost them, he _left_ them... and he still got them back. Do you know what I would give to hold my mother and father like that again? But I never will, and I want to be happy for him... but part of me can't. What kind of monster does that make me?"

"Not a monster," Liana said. "I think I understand, more than you might realize."

Kara looked at her curiously.

She sighed. "Did I ever tell you how I came to leave my homeworld?"

The girl shook her head.

"I... lost my own family, many years ago," Liana said. "Perhaps ten or eleven.... So long ago that sometimes I forget." She smiled at Kara. "My daughter would have been around your age, I think."

"Tell me about her?" Kara asked.

Liana rose and went over to her own bunk. She didn't have to rummage through her things for this. She knew exactly where it was.

She returned and handed a picture to Kara. Her husband and daughter and her standing together, the two of them with dark fur that almost looked stark against her own lighter color. She did not know if a human would find her Saheen handsome, but she still found him so. Her daughter had just had a birthday in this picture. It had been the last time they were all together.

"She was seven years old in that picture. Her name was Julya," Liana said, sitting back down beside Kara. Her voice was full of both fondness and regret. She had not spoken of her family in so long. Not since she had told Renn about them, years ago.

"She had beautiful golden eyes. She was so bright, so happy, and so strong-willed. She took after her father more, although she wanted to be a pilot like me someday. She would tell anyone who would listen about it. She was my joy. I lived to see her happy."

Liana looked over at the picture in Kara's hands. "But I- I spent too much time away from her and my husband, and they were both gone in a moment."

Kara looked like she wanted to ask, but she wouldn't. "They're beautiful," she said instead. "I see your spirit in her."

Liana smiled a bit at that. "Thank you." She leaned against Kara's shoulder for comfort as she explained. "It was a vehicle accident. No one could have done anything. My father was also...." She closed her eyes with a sigh. "It was a lot to lose at once. I was away when it happened. I found I no longer had a home to return to after that. It hurt too much to stay in a place where they were not."

"I know that feeling," Kara said. "When it isn't home anymore, just a source of pain."

"Yes," Liana said. "I thought you might. So I left to find what else was out there, and I made myself a new home." She laughed softly. "And then I filled it with willful children who I have grown to love."

Kara chuckled. "Well, I hope you know we all feel the same way." And then her adopted daughter leaned in, brushing Liana with her cheek. "Even if some of us are too dense to ever say so."

"I do know." Liana gently nuzzled Kara in return. "You all say it in your own small ways. It is enough for me."

They sat quietly for a time, but eventually, Kara asked in a melancholy voice, "Do you think Renn's going to stay, after this is over? Now that he has his mother back and... and Meena?"

Liana had been wondering that herself. "I am not sure," she said. "I think it will be a very difficult decision for him to make." She looked at Kara. "Do you want him to stay?"

"I...." Kara's voice trailed off. "I won't stand in their way. That just wouldn't be right."

Liana considered. She thought she knew Renn's feelings on this matter. She had not spoken to him about it directly, so maybe she was wrong. Still.... "Perhaps you should tell him how you feel anyway," she said. "Life is too fleeting not to say such things to those we care about."

Kara extricated herself and got to her feet. "I- I need to think about this." She headed for the door, but paused before opening it. "Thanks for the advice... and for being there when I needed a mom."

Liana smiled. "I am glad to call you my daughter, Kara."


	6. Plans

After a few days of searching, they'd found an appropriate job for the Wanderer, transporting foodstuff and produce from an Outer Rim farming world to the Core world of Brentaal IV. It was an innocuous enough job, Renn supposed, although it didn't pay enough for his liking. And his personal bank account was still almost empty, making him feel a lot less secure than he wished.

Meena had wanted to give him back his money, but he'd refused the offer. He felt guilty enough that she'd dropped everything for him, and now she couldn't go back to her home, or her dance troupe, until this was through. Assuming she still had a job and home to go back to, afterward.

He sighed, fidgeting with his datapad. He had finally managed to find some peace and quiet, sitting on one of the supply crates in the cargo hold. A spot to be alone was almost an impossibility these days; the Wanderer felt crowded now, with his mother and Meena around.

He was doing some research, digging into Brentaal IV, its capital city, and the building that housed the data center. This was starting to look impossible to him, but he didn't want to alarm the others. Especially when they were all doing this for him in the first place.

Renn heard the door open, and looked up to see Kara come in. She wasn't limping nearly as badly anymore, he noted, relieved. He quickly looked down at his datapad again, before she caught him staring.

"Renn?" she asked, closing and locking the door behind her. "Do you have a moment? We need to talk."

He looked back up at her, surprised. "Uh, yeah." Renn switched off the display and set his datapad down carefully, still awkward with just one hand. "Locking the door. That sounds ominous."

"It's not." She held up both hands in a calming gesture. "At least, it's not intended to." She came over and sat down on a cargo container across from him. "I wanted to talk about what happened... earlier, I mean." Even in the dim light, he could tell she was blushing furiously.

When it seemed she wasn't going to continue, he started to speak. Unfortunately, opening his mouth seemed to be all the impetus she needed.

"Look, about that," they said in perfect unison.

Strange ethereal bonds aside, the humor was too much. They both started laughing.

"Just... shut up," she eventually said, between giggles. "Let me get through this in one go, or we'll be here all night." She blushed again but soldiered through it. "About the kiss.... If.... Look, we've both got a lot on our plates right now. If you're intentionally avoiding me because you feel awkward about it, don't. We'll just put a pin in the whole thing until we get the current insanity dealt with. Besides...." She looked down at her own toes. "I don't want to get in the way," she said in the tiniest voice he'd ever heard her use.

"Get in the way? Of what?" He blinked at her. Wait, was she seriously thinking...?

"You... and Meena...."

He let out a bark of laughter, and knew instantly it was the wrong response.

Kara stood, her eyes looking past the floor. Then she took one long step, bringing her right up into his personal space. In the same movement her hand was raised and her face warped with rage, sadness, pain, loss and feelings that have no name....

And in the next instant she had turned away, walking determinedly for the door.

"Wait! Kara!" He scrambled up after her, awkward with only one usable arm. Her expression scared him. Especially after what Aeron had said. "I promise, I'm not laughing at you. You have the wrong idea."

She spun on her heel, bare inches from him again as he stopped short to avoid running into her. "Then what is the _right_ idea?!" Tears glistened in her swollen eyes. "Tell me! You've barely said more than two words to me since we.... Dammit, Renn! Don't you get it? Don't you understand?! You're not just the first person I- I kissed...."

She ran down, and sank to a puddle on her knees. "You... Liana, and even Aeron... but mostly you.... You're the first people I ever knew who weren't blood... my first friends. And then... then I... then we...." She curled into a ball on the floor.

"Hey... hey...." Renn knelt beside her and hugged her with his one good arm. "I'm sorry, Kara," he said. "I was trying _not_ to hurt you. I thought you needed some space. I didn't mean to make things worse." She leaned against his chest, still crying. "Damn it, this isn't how I wanted this to happen." He closed his eyes, trying to calm his mind the way he'd been practicing with Aeron. His own agitation was the last thing she needed right now.

They sat together like that until the storm of tears had passed, and she was calm again. Calm and still, like a mountain pool under the moon.

Renn blinked down at her.

"Yeah," she said, softly muffled by his chest, "I see it, too. When we're both quiet... I think we can actually hear each other. When we want to." She rubbed her eyes on her sleeve. "I was thinking about a place near my family's farm."

"It meant a lot to you, didn't it?"

She nodded. "At first, it was just a place I'd go when I needed distance from Mom and Dad. It wasn't like I could go spend time with other people; the nearest humans were a day's ride away. But there was the pool."

Kara smiled as the memory filled her. "I'd go there, and look at the stars, or skip stones across it... or just Sing to myself. And it's where... it's where I met the gliderwing for the first time."

"Your friend, the giant bird?"

She giggled. "I never thought of him like that, but yes. I was about twelve at the time. Something had happened and I was so mad at my parents.... I just had to get away, so I went there. I was screaming... out loud and otherwise, really. And then, a big piece of the sky fell on me."

"That's one hell of an image."

"Well, to be fair, I'd startled him mightily. He thought I was challenging his right to fly in _his_ sky, so he stooped and.... Well, they _are_ predators, after all."

"What happened?"

"I toppled backwards into the pool."

Renn exploded in laughter again.

"In my defense, he was a giant angry ball of feathers and sharp things and... well, he didn't know humans could Sing, I didn't know he could Sing.... So there I was, shivering cold and soaked to the bone. And there he was, confused and intrigued."

Kara leaned her head against his chest. "He was my only friend, until you."

Renn was quiet for a moment. He could live with 'friend', if it meant she stayed with him a little longer.

"You... asked about me and Meena." He immediately felt her tense up. "Look, Meena is like a sister to me." He gave a wry little chuckle. "I used to have a crush on her when we were kids, I'll admit that. If you want the full confession, I kissed her when we were both thirteen. It wasn't nearly as interesting as- as the holovids made it seem. It was awkward as hell. Neither of us liked it. So it didn't go anywhere."

She suppressed another giggle. "So, the great man of the civilized space lanes just admitted to the farm girl from a galactic backwater that he kissed his sister? Hello, irony."

Renn snorted. "Hey, be nice. I'm confessing my deep, dark secrets here." He smirked at her. "Besides, she'd be much more interested in you."

Kara's brow furrowed. "Why? I mean, I know we both dance, but...."

"You are so adorably naive sometimes, farm girl." He grinned.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Then her eyebrows climbed and her mouth went round. "Oh. Oh my...."

"So, you see, even if I was still interested — which I'm not — she definitely isn't interested in me." He paused, thoughtfully. "I probably should have lead with the explanation, huh?"

She laughed. "Yeah, probably."

"Duly noted."

They were both loathe to break the embrace and the comfortable quiet that settled between them. Finally, Kara spoke up again.

"Renn?"

"Hmm?"

"I felt how you calmed your thoughts earlier." She hesitated. "I know what it must have cost you to ask Aeron for help. I'm sure you did it for yourself, too, not just for me. But it really does help. Thank you."

"I figured we should get it under control before things get any worse. The last thing we need is to set each other off in the middle of breaking in to a high-security building."

"I think your mother would kill us." She looked up at him, laughing, perhaps imagining how horribly that could go wrong.

"Yeah...." He met her eyes. She was so near, so warm against his chest. It wouldn't take much to close the distance between them. He leaned in, and felt her do the same.

He pulled away before their lips could touch. What the hell was he doing? This was how they'd gotten in trouble last time. "Sorry," he said. "I- I didn't mean-"

Kara flushed, moving further from him. "No, it's okay." She looked awkwardly down at the floor. "I should probably... I mean, Liana asked me to..." She got up. "I should go."

"Right," Renn said. "I should get back to work too. Research." Wow, that was smooth. He reached for the datapad he'd set aside earlier. But he watched her, not the datapad, until she retreated out of view.

***

The trip to Brentaal IV had been mostly routine. They arrived and unloaded ahead of schedule. Renn had been happy to be excluded from helping with the cargo, due to his injuries, although he had insisted on being the one to meet with the client and get payment. It was kind of nice, finally getting back to work.

Renn's talent for dealing with clients had become apparent not long after Liana had taken him in. It wasn't that she was bad at it. But she was kind of intimidating, especially when people weren't familiar with the Trianii, and weren't expecting a large humanoid predator.

When Renn met with clients, it was an easy role for him to slip into. He could end up talking with someone he'd just met as if they were the best of friends by the end of an evening, and arrange a business deal while he was at it.

It was almost like a switch, or a mask he wore when he was around people other than his crew and family. When he was "on", he was charismatic, friendly, and outgoing. People just seemed to like him.

Liana had told him once that it looked like he was flirting, but he wasn't. Not intentionally, anyway. He'd learned a lot of the mannerisms from his dad. Nahlen Ket had been an expert con-man. You just had to make people feel important. Make them feel like you were interested in what they were saying. Buy them a few drinks, or indulge in a game or two of their favorite game of chance. Do them a favor so they'd feel like they owed you one later. It made people trust you when they thought you might be a kindred spirit.

But... it was exhausting. The Wanderer was his refuge, the one place where he didn't need to be "on", and he was grateful for that.

He headed back up the ramp as soon as the docking bay doors had closed again.

Liana and Ori both looked up at him as he entered the main hold. "I got a few extra credits out of him," Renn said, grinning. "We were enough ahead of schedule that he gave us a bonus for our prompt service."

Ori grinned back. "Always charge the drunk ones more." She put her arm around his shoulders. "Come on, kiddo. We've got an errand at the city planning office. Kara and Aeron are already scoping out the building itself. Watching foot traffic, keeping an eye out for security patterns, that sort of thing."

"Wasn't I supposed to be resting and recovering?" His protest was mostly a joke as she steered him back down the ramp.

"You're right," she said, heading for their rented speeder. "Hop in the passenger seat. I'll drive."

"Oh, joy," he said under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"I didn't think so."

The trip to the building was actually fairly uneventful, save for a couple of near misses. Renn thought maybe he might insist on driving on the way home anyway, even with only one good arm.

The planning office was a typical government office building, not huge, but with most of its space set aside for records; the building held both large databanks of digital records, and some legacy physical records as well. The reception area was bustling with civilians and employees going about their business.

Brentaal IV... something about that had been bugging Renn for a little while now. At first he thought it was just all the research he'd been doing. But it was a trade center, so it wasn't like this was the first time he and Liana had ever come here.

So, of course, he spotted someone he knew almost immediately upon entering the lobby.

"Hang on a second. Let me take the lead here," he said in a low voice, for his mother's ears alone. "I know her."

Renn's contact turned out to be a somewhat overworked female Togruta who saw him coming through a gap in the mountain of paperwork on her desk.

"Renn Falani! As I live and breathe! Where ya been, Short Stack?"

Renn rolled his eyes a little at the nickname. He fell easily into his persona as he approached her. "Hey, Totiri. Sorry, we haven't had a lot of jobs lately in this part of the core." He grinned and leaned on her desk, finding a bare spot without a pile of papers on it. "I forget, did I still owe you a drink from last time?"

"I'm going to pretend the answer is yes. So, what brings you to my den of drudgery?"

"Well, I owe you one now, even if I didn't before," he said. He lowered his voice. "Listen, I need a favor. Do you think we could get a look at a couple of building plans, without the usual wait time?"

"Oooh... skulduggery and espionage. Deal me _in._ What do you need?"

Renn smirked at her. "It's nothing nearly that exciting, unfortunately. Just a very odd client request." He gave her a list of the plans he needed. He quickly threw in a few other nearby buildings on impulse, hoping that it would be less obvious that they were targeting one in particular. "You won't get in any trouble for this, will you?" he asked.

Totiri threw her head back and, much to Renn's chagrin, shouted, "I'm going to show the blueprints of several buildings in the center of the downtown core to these civilians. Anyone got a problem with that?"

Someone leaned out of an office somewhere behind Totiri's desk. "Only if you don't bring back caf. Usual order."

Totiri didn't flinch. "One large nonfat caf with extra ormudo sprinkles, no whip. Anyone else?"

Five other people chimed in.

Totiri settled back into her chair. "Meet my co-conspirators' price, and the goods are yours."

Ori grinned. "Oooo, I like her."

"Okay, okay!" Renn laughed. "You have a deal."

***

An hour later, copies of building plans in hand, Renn and Ori returned to the Wanderer.

They got back about the same time Kara and Aeron did. Renn did a bit of a double-take as his crewmates entered the hangar bay where the ship was parked. Aeron had shaved his beard, and his hair was now short and spiky, thanks to a liberal amount of some sort of stiffening agent. Kara wore one of Meena's outfits... maybe, Renn thought. The clothes hadn't been donned so much as applied. Her hair was also a shocking shade of bright pink.

"Ori's idea," was all either of them would say, as they both headed for the refreshers in their respective dormitories.

"Security guards remember loiterers," Ori said. "Now, they won't remember Kara and Aeron, but the punks. Although I think Meena took the idea a bit far...."

"Um... yeah...." Renn said, staring at Kara's retreating form.

"Stop drooling on your boots, son," Ori said. "It's undignified."

"I wasn't! I was just... surprised."

"Wait till he sees tomorrow's disguises!" Meena said enthusiastically from the corner of the main hold, where she tinkered with some device.

***

Kara and Aeron both returned to the main hold after several minutes of scrubbing. Both were wearing their usual tunic-esque ship knits. Kara's hair was mostly blond again, though the dye had left behind a bit of a warmer hue to it. It was actually a cute look for her, though Renn didn't dare say that aloud.

As Aeron sat down, Renn openly gaped at the now clean-shaven Jedi. "I forget how _young_ you are sometimes. That chin-rug added ten years."

Aeron winced. "Why do you think I grew it? My face feels oddly cold...."

Meena handed the device she'd been adjusting to Aeron. "This should help. Follicle stimulator. It'll itch like crazy, but your beard should grow back in about an hour."

Ori gave everyone a dark look and they quieted. "First things first," she said, "I got us some gear upgrades." She set a handful of in-ear comlinks down on the table, including one that should fit Liana's larger ears.

"Nice," Renn said, picking one of the standard ones up.

"Everyone gets one." Ori tapped the one already in her own ear. "We're gonna need something more subtle than handheld comlinks. This way, we can keep in contact easier and not be obvious about it."

Meena looked down. "I can't wear one of those."

"I know," Ori said. "I didn't forget about you, kiddo." She handed the Twi'lek a small box. "There's an earpiece you can fit into your headdress above your ear, and a necklace with a microphone."

"Thanks, Ori!" Meena immediately opened it and started to examine the necklace. It was a plain chain, non-descript and easy to hide. The microphone looked like a small silver pendant.

Ori waited for each of them to take their new comlinks before she spoke again. "All right, what did we learn?"

Renn hit a button on his datapad and the cabin's holoprojector filled the center of the space with projected building plans. "This," he said, "is the Tower. The info we found online didn't match up with the original blueprints all that much. The city's plans showed a lot greater detail."

Liana studied the plans intently. "Such as?"

"Well... the central core of the Tower's middle floors is a hardened secondary structure. Whatever creative genius designed it called it the Bunker. Probably because it could take a planetary bombardment. If Aeron or Kara went at it with lightsabers, they may be able to cut through the bunker's walls in about a week."

"So direct assault is right out," Kara said. "But we knew that already."

"Oh, it gets worse," Renn said. "To get _in_ the Bunker, you need a special ID-coded wristband, which we can't fake, _and_ once you're in, you're still not home free. Inside the Bunker is a _tertiary_ structure, just as durable as the Bunker itself. This structure, called the Vault, is only accessible via a single turbolift, which won't open without a forty-two digit access code that is generated and changed at random times of the day by a system in the Vault itself. Which means, we can't get the code directly. And that's not even _mentioning_ the guards, security cameras and other nasty surprises."

Ori snorted. "Don't look so grim, guys. I've seen tighter security at used-droid lots. Speaking of, though, what sort of electronic surveillance do they have?"

Renn typed a few commands and the view changed. Several dots were now highlighted throughout the building. "Their electronic eyes in the Tower itself are pretty basic. Just cameras." Another command brought more, different colored dots, all focused on the core of the building. "In the Bunker, things get more serious. Thermal scanners and motion detectors. I can't even begin to guess what they've got in the Vault. There's no data available at all."

Liana softly rumbled something between a purr and a growl, a sound she only made when thinking her way through a thorny problem. "Then breaking into the Vault won't do. We must find a way to be admitted inside."

Ori nodded. "In a nutshell, yes." She reached into a pocket and withdrew a metal case, from which she selected a well-gnawed toothpick and begin chewing on it some more. "The cameras need to have some sort of monitoring. Trace the lines and see if we hit any major nodes."

Sure enough, all the camera feeds passed through a single spot. Renn grinned. "They feed into some sort of building maintenance systems room, before going on to a central security office in the bunker."

Meena caught on. "We slip some tech of our own in there, and we can see what security sees!"

"We've still got to find a way into the Tower itself," Renn said.

"Kara and I may have found one," Aeron said. "People entering the Tower must use a pass card to gain access, but it should be a simple matter of getting a hold of one of the cards and copying its contents."

"One of the senior guards seems a likely target, and I know just the one," Kara said. "Every time a pretty lady would walk by him, his head almost swiveled clean off."

Ori grinned. "Having Jedi to read people saves us a load of background work."

All eyes seemed to drift to Meena. "What?!" the Twi'lek asked. "You want _me_ to snatch the pervert's card?!"

"Well...." Renn said.

"Oh, _fine!"_ Meena crossed her arms over her chest. "But I'm not going alone. Kara, I'm drafting you."

Kara blinked. "Why me?"

"Backup." Meena smirked.

Aeron chuckled as he dug out a datapad and projected an image of a bunch of young adults handing out leaflets. "Speaking of backup, these people were all over the area."

Liana blinked at the image. "What are they doing?"

"They're advertising an upcoming protest rally," Kara said. "Against the financial elite and their iron fists in the velvet glove, or something like that. I couldn't get the straight of it personally. But it seems like the last one brought thousands of angry people to the square in front of the Tower."

Ori nodded. "That could be a useful distraction.... When is the big protest scheduled for?"

"Five days from now." Kara said.

"Tight," Ori said. "But doable. I just wish we could slip someone inside, but with that time frame...."

Aeron scratched absently at his prickly chin. "About that...." He projected an image of Kara, in her disguise, posing. "Ignore her, look at this." He zoomed in past Kara's shoulder.

Liana's brow furrowed. "That looks like... B4?"

Kara nodded. "Same model, or at least really close to it. Apparently the Tower has a service contract for labor droids with a local maintenance firm. They use several different models, but B4's and T5's are among them."

Renn choked. "Send T5 _undercover?_ Are you crazy?"

Aeron shook his head. "T5, no. But B4, yes. With certain logical precautions."

"Good idea," Ori said. "Tae? Go set up your droid. The rest of us will deal with slipping him into the Tower's labor pool."

"Right, on it." Renn got up and headed off in search of the protocol droid.

Meena frowned. "Kara and I should head out now, too. If I'm going to be bait, I need to go shopping."

***

"Are you ready?" Liana asked, peeking into the cargo bay. Renn was sitting on a crate, with B4 slumped in front of him, shut down.

"Almost," he said. "There." He finished one last adjustment inside the droid's back panel, then closed it. "He's all yours."

"Will this work?" She looked dubiously at the droid as Renn reactivated him to test it.

"It should. I made a full backup of his personality matrix and gave him a memory wipe. Then I implanted recognition of each of us and a secure backdoor into his behavioral controls so we can upload new directives to him remotely."

Liana looked concerned.

"When we get him back, I can re-upload his matrix, and he'll be just like he was. I promise."

The droid looked somehow confused, and began a standardized greeting. Liana felt a little sorry for him. She took his arm and led him out to where Aeron and Ori were waiting.

"All set then?" Aeron asked.

Liana nodded.

"Meena and Kara left a moment ago," Ori said. "We should get going too." She climbed into the unmarked lift van that had appeared in the hangar bay. Liana did not want to know how.

Liana guided the droid into the back of the van, and shut him down for now. Then she went around to the front and climbed into the driver's seat. "So, what's the plan?" she asked, looking at Ori. "Where are we headed?"

"Bandu Labor Works," Ori said from the passenger seat. She dug out a datapad and her fingers began flying over its screen. "The address is in the van's computer."

From where he knelt between the front seats, Aeron asked, "And the plan?"

"I'll let you know when we get there... or as soon as it comes to me. You know, whichever."

"Ah," he said, "trust the Force, keep your head down, and best of luck. Pretty much the standard stratagem then. Why mess with a classic?"

"Truer words, Jedi. Truer words."

Liana pulled the van to a halt across the street from their destination, so they could observe. "It doesn't look terribly secure," she said, peering across at the nondescript building. "Or well-maintained."

"Yeah," Ori said. "About time we caught a break. No cameras on the perimeter... scan doesn't show any laser grids or fancier security. This time of night, it's probably deserted. You two wait here. Aeron, when I signal, bring the droid. Liana, keep the engine humming, we may need to get out fast."

And, with that, she was gone.

"I see," Aeron said, "where Renn gets his abrupt manner."

***

Ori made a fast lap of the exterior. This place was a thief's dream. The wall was topped with razor wire, and the gate had a good sturdy lock, but gates were for people without imagination.

A dumpster and utility pole within scant feet of the fence made for a simple entry. Two steps and she'd hopped atop the dumpster, jumped to the street light, and swung over the fence to land with a soft thud inside the droid lot.

The Republic Marines had taught her tactics, the Advanced Intel and Recon school had taught her more, but how to crack a place like this? That she'd learned on the streets of Nar Shaddaa as an upstart punk kid with nimble feet and way too much curiosity.

The exterior lock had been sturdy; the interior lock was a joke. The door popped open with little more than a stern look. The office was dark, but Ori had a flashlight in her belt pouch. Ah. There.

A moment later, she was seated at a terminal in the warehouse, surrounded by silent and deactivated droids. It felt like dozens of eyes on her back, but she shrugged it off and activated the terminal. A login screen appeared. She dug out a small computer spike.

The only other thing Nahlen had given her besides a son, and grief....

'Snap out of it, girl. Reminisce off the clock.' She inserted the spike. Soon enough, she was looking at the records of Bandu Labor Work's account with the Tower. A shipment of protocol droids was heading out in the morning. 'We couldn't have _planned_ this better....'

Ori reached up to her ear and tapped her comlink. "Aeron, grab B4 and get in here."

"Um, how?" he asked.

She stopped typing and rolled her eye. "You're a Jedi. Use the Force." Kids today!

"On our way," he said, sounding embarrassed.

A moment later, Ori heard the clattering bang of a droid being tossed over the fence, and a second later, the even louder crash of a human to whom stealth was an alien concept.

"How has Tae survived this crew?" Ori muttered to herself as Aeron maneuvered B4 into the shop. Hopefully the girls were having better luck.

***

Their target liked to drink in a bar of the sort Meena felt skeevy just setting foot in. But no one would look twice at a Twi'lek dancing girl in this sort of place. She completely looked the part right now, wearing too much makeup, flashy jewelry, a halter top, and a semi-sheer skirt that left very little to the imagination. She really hated playing this stereotype, but if it was for her friend, she would do it.

From a spot across the room, Meena studied the man that Kara had pointed out to her earlier. He was a middle-aged human with dark hair. Probably in his forties, if she had to guess. He still seemed to be in pretty good shape, which she supposed made sense if he worked security.

Meena had a fairly harmless drug hidden in one of the bracelets she wore. If she could sneak it into his drink, it should knock him out long enough for them to get what they needed. He'd think that he had just passed out from too much alcohol when he woke the next morning. She just needed to get close, and get him interested enough that she could do it.

She hadn't really been lying about wanting Kara for backup, despite how she'd teased her about it. If this went wrong or the man caught on to her, and things got physical, she could be in real trouble. She glanced over in the direction where the blond was sitting, with her own clear line of view to the man's table. They'd made a point of coming in at different times, so hopefully no one would suspect them of working together.

Meena took a deep breath to steel herself, stood, and approached the guard's otherwise empty table. "Hi," she said, leaning against the surface to give him a good eyeful. "You look a little lonely, sitting here all by yourself. Can I get you another drink?" She made eye contact, then looked away, playing demure. "Or anything else?"

The man rolled bleary eyes from his half-empty glass. "Drink? Sure. Company? No thanks...."

"Oh," she said, blinking. "I'm sorry for bothering you, then."

She retreated to the bathroom, flustered. That was the signal for Kara to join her, in case something went wrong.

Kara came in as Meena was checking the stalls for other patrons. "What happened?" she asked.

It was a tight fit but Meena pulled Kara into the far stall with her and locked the door. "We managed to find the one kriffing human male in the entire galaxy who _isn't_ attracted to Twi'lek women." She rolled her eyes. "Change clothes with me," she said, already starting to pull off her skirt. "You'll have to try it."

"Wait...." Kara blinked. "What?!"

"Here," Meena said, shoving her skirt at Kara. She wasn't bothered by standing around in her undergarments; it was no worse than quick costume changes between acts. "He's not interested in me at all. Completely brushed me off, barely even looked." She was a little bit offended at that, to be honest. She'd done the whole flirty Twi'lek routine and everything. "You said you saw him looking at human women earlier, right?"

"But I...." Kara blushed furiously. "I don't know how!"

"We'll get him a drink from the bar, put the drug in it, and you can bring it to him. Flirt with him a little until he drinks it." Meena sighed at the look on Kara's face. Rennie was right; she was so naive it hurt. "You know? Smile at him, look cute, try to get him talking and pretend you're hanging on every word. Laugh at his jokes. Flirt."

Kara took the garments in one hand and sighed.

A few minutes later, Meena stood outside the stall in Kara's tunic and leggings. On the other side of the door, she could hear Kara struggling to get dressed in the cramped space.

"Are you almost ready?" Meena asked.

"This is a terrible idea...." Kara said. "I don't think I can walk in these shoes."

Personally, Meena thought it was a spectacular idea. "You'll be fine!"

The door swung open and Kara stepped awkwardly forward. The top was a bit loose, but a few adjustments and it did the trick.

"I'll go get a drink and slip the drug into it," Meena said. "Then you come up to me at the bar, and order the same drink, and we'll swap glasses. I know we were trying to avoid being seen together, but if anyone was paying any attention to either of us, they're probably going to notice the outfit change. It can't be helped." She smiled in encouragement, and patted Kara's arm before she turned to head back out. "You do look really cute!"

A few minutes later, Meena sat at the bar, a duplicate of their target's drink before her. A minor commotion behind her indicated Kara's somewhat ungainly emergence. Meena had to grudgingly admit that Kara really _couldn't_ walk in those heels, but as she maneuvered around the bar's few tables, Kara seemed to gain the knack for it.

She made it to the bar and stared intently at Meena's drink for a moment, obviously thinking like crazy.

Oh no, Meena realized. I never told her what sort of drink it is!

After a moment, Kara turned to the barkeep, and, putting a comical overabundance of sultry into her voice, whispered, "I'll have what she's having."

The drink soon appeared, and they swapped glasses. Then, obviously gathering her courage, Kara began her unsteady strut over to the target's table. Meena watched her with a growing sense of dread. Maybe this _had_ been a terrible idea after all.

The man's head came up as Kara approached, and she set the glass before him. "You looked like a thirsty man," she said in an over-the-top voice. "Unless, of course, you see something else you like." She moved to cross her arms over her stomach and leaned forward to accentuate her cleavage... or at least she tried to. Her heel turned, and, with a wild cry, she wound up ungainly pitching forward toward the table.

The man caught her, though, and with surprising deftness, altered her course so she landed sitting in his lap. "Whoa there, be careful, little lady."

Blushing like mad, Kara reached an awkward hand up to stroke the man's cheek. "Oh, my hero...." Then she passed him the drink she'd managed not to spill. "For rescuing me."

He drank it down in one pull. Kara, meanwhile, had slipped off his lap and curled up on the seat beside him.

Perhaps ten seconds later, the man was out like a light.

Kara's nimble fingers found his pocket and ID cards. Sure enough, the Tower passcard was among them. No one was watching, so she swiped it through the skimmer Renn had given them earlier. It beeped as the contents of the card were copied.

She put it back and relieved the man of his loose cash and credit chits. Then she got up and left. Meena followed her a few minutes later. Their target was still asleep at his table, unremarked by the crowd.

***

"You did really good, all things considered," Meena said to Kara as they made it back to the ship. She started up the ramp to the Wanderer's main hold.

"Why are you wearing Kara's clothes?" Liana asked as Meena entered. Of course, everyone was waiting for them around the table inside.

Meena handed the skimmer to Renn. "It didn't go exactly according to plan but we got it. We had to switch outfits." She grinned at the expression on his face, and knew exactly where his overactive imagination had gone.

Then she realized her partner-in-crime hadn't come up the ramp after her. She went back to the hatch to see Kara hesitating at the base of the ramp.

Suddenly Meena felt a little cruel for having embarrassed her so much. "Hang on a sec," she called to the rest of them, and went back down the ramp. "Hey, I'm sorry I teased you. You want me to clear everyone out, or get you a robe or something?" Meena asked.

"No," Kara said. "Just let me lean on you going up the ramp. I don't trust these shoes as far as I can throw them."

"You sure? Rennie's up there." Meena put an arm around the other woman to support her.

Kara gave a wicked chuckle. "Let him gape. It's been a rough few weeks. He's earned a reward."

Meena grinned and helped her aboard the ship.


	7. Preparation

The next day, Renn busied himself with duplicating the access card. It was pretty simple, and made a nice break from the endless reams of computer code he'd been burying himself in. He'd already started writing the patch which would remove as much of the backdoor as he could, but it was complicated. Of course, he had no way of testing it beforehand, either, and he didn't know how much the system had changed since he'd originally written the backdoor into it. He'd probably need some time to integrate his new code into the system, assuming they got that far.

An angry beep from the machine made him look down with a grimace.

He was really distracted this morning.

"You okay?" Meena asked, dropping into a seat next to him.

"Huh? Yeah. Just... bricked one of the blanks." At her look of concern, Renn said, "Don't worry, that's why I got a bunch of extras. And I also took a backup of the original, just in case. It'll be fine." He took the dead access card out of the computer port, and inserted a new one.

"You better not lose that original," she said. "Because we are _not_ going back for a new one."

He chuckled. Meena elbowed him, lightly. "I told you she'd look cute in the outfit, right?"

"You're evil, you know that?"

The machine beeped again, and he groaned. He needed to be paying attention, and not be thinking about things beyond his control right now.

Meena just watched him for a while. Then she stood, a mischievous smile on her lips, and said, "I should let you work."

"What are you up to?" he asked, suspiciously.

"Nothing!" she called back to him as she left the cockpit.

Why didn't he believe that?

***

Meena found her new target in the cargo bay. "Kara!" she said as she came in, but then she pulled up short. The blond seemed to be in the middle of some sort of exercise or something. "Oh, oops! Sorry! I didn't mean to disturb you."

Kara stopped her motion and took a deep, centering breath. Whatever she'd been doing, she was glowing with perspiration. She wore her usual leggings and boots, but from the waist up all she wore was a dark gray sports bra. Her weapons belt and tunic sat atop a nearby crate, neatly folded with her lightsabers atop them. "No problem," she said with a smile. "After last night, I needed to meditate and get myself back together."

"I'm sorry everything went wrong. I know you were really embarrassed, and it was my fault." Meena smiled back, a little shyly. "But still, I kinda had fun. I thought maybe we could talk, if you're not too busy."

"Sure." Kara stepped over to her clothes and picked up a small wash towel. "And it's not your fault you didn't turn that idiot's head. As for everything else... it wasn't a big deal." She took a long swallow from a nearby water bottle. "Drink?"

"Oh, no, I'm okay." Meena sat down on a crate, tucking her legs up underneath her. "What was that you were doing? Was it some kind of Jedi thing?"

"Yes and no." Kara sat on the crate across from her. "According to Aeron, my 'Jedi' training was really unusual...." She went on to explain about her upbringing on Derra IV, about the Music and how it both was and wasn't the Force as the Jedi understood it. The discussion broke down about there.

"I'm sorry," Kara said. "It's really philosophical and complicated... and I'm terrible at explaining it."

"No, I get it," Meena said. "Have you ever seen a deaf person dance? They can't hear the music like other people can, but they can interpret the beat by feeling the bass. They aren't hearing it, they're feeling it. In some ways, probably more profoundly than those of us with hearing. You're just a deaf, dancing Jedi!"

Kara stared at Meena in slack-jawed amazement.

"Did I say something wrong?" The Twi'lek looked down. "I didn't mean to offend you."

Kara shook her head, slowly. "No, not at all. Meena, I've been trying to find a concise explanation for this for the last year, and you found one in three minutes flat."

"Oh!" Meena giggled. "I'm glad I could help, then." She looked around the cargo bay for a moment. "Did you say you grew up on a farm? So how did you wind up here on the Wanderer?" she asked. "How'd you meet Rennie?"

Kara laughed. "In a bar on my homeworld, where he promptly told me to shut up and go away."

At Meena's blank look, she began again.

"About a year ago, my family was murdered... actually, almost exactly a year ago."

"Oh!" Meena's hands went to her mouth in horror. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to remind you!"

"Oh, don't worry about it. It's all right. It's hard to explain. I miss them terribly, and it's not like I can still talk to them. But sometimes, when I Sing in the Music... I can feel them. They aren't really gone, just not here. If _that_ makes any sense.

"Anyway, the murderer missed me because I wasn't home at the time. When I found them... and found out why it had happened, I tried to flee off-planet. Renn was the first spacer I ran into, but he told me the ship was full."

"Was it?" Meena asked.

"Of course not," Kara said with a laugh. "He was just being Renn. Then we met Aeron, and got in a huge fight with some Sith troopers. Liana granted me and Aeron berths and we eventually got absorbed into the crew."

"Wow," Meena said, "your life is way more exciting than mine. I'm just a dancer for a theater troupe. Or I used to be." She shrugged. Then she looked up and smiled at Kara. "So, you don't really have another woman to talk to around here except for Liana, huh? If you ever need a friend to talk to, just girls, you can always talk to me." She hesitated. "I mean, if that's okay."

"I'd be honored to call you a friend, Meena," Kara said, before laughing again. "And I was just telling Renn the other day that, a year ago, my only friend was a giant bird."

Meena blinked at that. "That sounds like a really long story." She giggled.

Kara sighed happily. "You have no idea...."

***

"Ow!" Renn said.

"Stop being such a child." Liana sat back and rolled her eyes at him. "If you would just hold still, this wouldn't hurt. Now, hush." She leaned forward again.

He hissed as she started to remove the sling that bound his arm against the side of his body. His mother's medic friend had apparently passed along instructions for Renn's further recovery, which Liana had decided to take charge of.

He'd been looking forward to getting his arm out of that itchy sling. Except that his arm kept reminding him painfully that it wasn't fully healed yet.

He clenched his jaw as she finally got the sling off over his left arm, and unwound the bandages wrapped around it. "There," she said, running her hands gently down the limb, checking it over. "How is it?"

Renn moved it, tentatively. "It feels weak."

"You're still healing. It will for some time yet. And the doctor wanted you to exercise as part of the recovery, to help strengthen your arm. I sent the exercise instructions to you. And nothing too strenuous for another few weeks," she said, glancing at the instructions on the medbay computer display.

"You mean like robbing a high-security building?" 

"We are not robbing," Liana said. "We are correcting an error."

He burst out laughing.

She stood to leave, grinning at him. "I will warn Kara not to break you if she decides to throw you around the room again."

"Li- Liana!" 

She patted him on the head before she left the medbay. He sat by himself for a bit longer after she'd gone, moving his arm around. It was nice to be able to use it again.

"How's it going, kid?"

Renn looked up to see his mother leaning against the entryway. He waved his left hand at her. "Finally free of that thing. Ow." He cringed at sudden twinge of pain in his arm. Still healing. Right.

Ori came over to sit in the chair that Liana had recently vacated. "I haven't had a chance to say this to you yet, but these are good people you've found."

Renn looked down, and opened and closed his weakened hand a few times. "They are," he said. "I mean, they actually forgave me, so-"

Ori leaned over and smacked Renn in the back of the head with her open palm.

" _Ow!_ What was that for?"

"Forgiveness is nice. But they _came_ for you. If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know about your new family, then I really _did_ raise an idiot child."

Renn rubbed his head. New family, she said. Like they were replacing something. "Mom... you and Meena came for me, too," he said.

"Yeah.... Yes, we did. And don't you forget it. If you ever get yourself in that much trouble again and I don't know about it, I will bend you over my knee and tan your hide so hard my theoretical _grandkids_ won't ever sit down comfortably, do you understand me, Taeren Ket?"

Renn flinched automatically at the use of his old name. "I don't use that name anymore," he said, meeting her eyes.

Ori leaned in close and abruptly Renn was six years old again, standing over a shattered cookie jar. "I know that. But I am your mother, and you are my son. I am damn proud of the man you've grown into, but even he doesn't get to take my little boy away from me, understand?"

Before he could reply, she sat back again. "Besides... brilliant alias, dear. Using your mother's maiden name? _Nobody's_ gonna figure that out," she said with a roll of her eye.

"I was hurt, scared, and pressed for time. It was the first thing I could come up with," he said. "It's worked well enough so far. At least until...." Renn shook his head and sighed. "Yes, I know, I was an idiot."

Ori's look said she perfectly understood the reasons he hadn't said as well. Mother and son shared a warm smile.

And then she asked, "So, what's the deal with you and Kara?"

"Mom!" 

She just looked at him. He knew that look. She wasn't going to drop this until he answered her.

"It's... really complicated right now. Confusing. Completely. Thoroughly. I could go on."

She rolled her eye again. "Right, I get it."

"Do you? Because I don't."

Ori laughed. "Welcome to relationships, kid. If it's not confusing, you're probably doing something wrong." She patted his shoulder. "If you wanna talk about it, I'll listen."

He'd thought about telling Liana, a few times over the past year, but he suspected she would just tell him... probably something really blunt and inappropriate, if he knew her. He didn't think Aeron would entirely get it, and that wouldn't be a comfortable conversation for either of them, even though they were getting along better these days. And he sure as hell wasn't ready to talk about it with Kara herself yet.

He wasn't even certain he knew the right words to describe what he was feeling. He stayed quiet for a while, thinking.

"She makes me crazy," Renn said at last. 

Ori snorted. 

"Not like that!" 

She raised her eyebrow. 

"Not _just_ like that." He looked away from her. _That_ was not really something he wanted to discuss with his mother right now.

But Ori didn't say anything else. That almost made it worse.

"It's like she scrambles my brain," he said. "We argue all the time, over the stupidest things. And I make her cry way too often."

Renn thought of the cargo bay, just a few days ago. Seeing Kara curled in on herself and weeping because of him... that had felt like a blade to his chest. 

_She makes my heart hurt._

That just wasn't something he could say aloud. Not yet.

"We can sit for hours, and talk about anything," he said. "I just feel better when she's there. I don't know, comfortable, I guess. She listens to me no matter how stupid or silly what I tell her is. She makes me laugh, and she teases me right back. And she is so naive it's kind of painful sometimes."

He finally looked up at Ori again. "Does this make any kind of sense?"

His mother laid a compassionate hand on his shoulder. "Oh, child. You got it bad."

Renn sighed. "But... what do I _do_ about it?"

"Have you tried telling her?"

He shook his head. "Every time I want to say something, it goes wrong and I make her cry again. She's been through a lot. I don't want to add to that. And I don't want to lose her friendship over... whatever this is."

"That's her decision to make, not yours."

Renn stared at her, then laughed. "Meena said almost the exact same thing to me earlier."

"Good," Ori said. "At least one of you listened to me." His mother stood and stretched, then picked up his shirt, set aside earlier while Liana had been helping him with the sling. "We don't need you getting sick right now." She tossed the discarded garment at him.

"Yes, Mother." He pulled it on over his head. His arm still ached, but it was so nice not to have to fumble with everything one-handed.

She gently ruffled his messy hair, like she used to do when he was little. "Listen, you won't know where you stand unless you say something to her. Maybe she feels the same. Maybe she doesn't. But don't deny yourself the chance to find out just because you're afraid of what'll happen. If she tells you no, take no for an answer and move on."

"I know," he said, looking up at her. "I listened to you, too."

She patted his shoulder. "There's just one other thing I need to say, kiddo," Ori said. "I want you to be happy. I really, truly do. But don't let your relationship drama get in the way of what we're doing right now. Put it aside until this job is done if you have to. There'll be plenty of time afterward for you two to figure yourselves out. What we're doing is dangerous, and, frankly, you're the linchpin of this operation. We _all_ need you focused on it if we're gonna succeed."

Renn nodded, deep in thought, as she left.

***

Everything was ready for the next part of their plan. They had the access card to get in to the Tower. Renn had built his eavesdropping device, which needed to be spliced into the camera and comm feeds in the systems room. Once that was installed, it would allow their crew to see through the cameras and hear any communications going in and out of the building. They would also be able to intercept the comm signals.

Unfortunately, that meant it was Renn's turn to go undercover, since he was the only person he trusted to hook his device up properly. And that meant he had to submit himself to Meena for a disguise.

"No." Renn glared at the follicle stimulator in her hands.

"Honestly, it's the easiest way to disguise your face," she said, shoving it toward him.

"It'll look ridiculous."

"Even better!" Meena grinned. "Then no one will recognize you if we have to send you back in later. It's not like it's permanent. You can shave it off when you get back." She looked at Ori for support.

His mother didn't even look up from her datapad. "She's right. Do it."

Renn groaned and stalked off back to the dormitory with the device.

After about an hour or so, there was a knock on the door to the room he shared with Aeron. "Rennie?"

Renn opened the door and practically pushed the follicle stimulator back into Meena's hands. "Don't you dare laugh." He had an unruly beard obscuring the lower half of his face.

She giggled and took the device back from him, tucking it into the small bag she was carrying. "Here, let me trim it for you." She stepped inside and closed the door. "Sit down."

He sat obediently on his bunk. Meena knelt in front of him, setting her bag on the floor. She extracted a small trimmer from the bag and got to work. "It doesn't look half bad once it's neat," she said at last. "It does a really good job of changing your look, and that's the important thing. Just one more touch...." She pulled out some cosmetics.

"Meena, what are you doing?"

"Stay still." She squinted at him, and then applied something to his face. "It's subtle, to make you look more tired."

The door opened, and they heard Aeron's voice. "Oh. Excuse me!"

Meena twisted to grin up at the Jedi. "Sorry to barge in your room! I was just helping Rennie with his disguise."

"Don't say a word," Renn said.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Aeron looked him over. "I didn't realize that this was putting such strain on you, Renn. You look like you haven't had a good night's sleep in weeks."

Meena laughed. "I helped with that, too." She packed up her bag and climbed to her feet. Then her smile turned wicked. "I'll tell everyone you're ready," she said, her voice a little too bright.

"She's having way too much fun with this," Renn said.

"Meena's not the only one." Aeron chuckled.

Renn rolled his eyes and stalked out.

As he'd expected, Meena had gathered everyone else to see her handiwork in the main hold. He glowered at her. "Let's just get this over with," he said, grabbing the small black box that he'd prepared.

Kara was visibly fighting a fit of giggles and, obviously, losing badly. "I... I never knew Renn and Aeron were brothers...."

"He does _not_ look like me," Renn and Aeron said in near perfect unison, which set everyone else to laughing.

After the moment of humor had subsided, Liana looked at the device in Renn's hands, concerned, as he prepared himself to leave. "Are you really going in alone?" she asked.

Renn shrugged. "It should be simple enough. Just get in, install the box, and get back out."

"I don't like it," she said, looking at Ori. "Shouldn't he at least have backup nearby if something goes wrong?"

Ori shrugged. "If something goes wrong in there, having someone on the outside won't help. Besides, we only have one ID. Thankfully, the stuff Meena and Kara slipped the guard has his insides tied in knots this morning. Our window to use that keycard closes the moment he clocks in."

Liana's tail lashed. "It makes me uneasy," she said. "But I will bow to your judgment."

"I'll be fine, Liana," Renn said. "You worry too much." But she hugged him anyway before she would allow him to leave the ship.

***

Renn approached one of the doors that didn't have a security guard always stationed near it, according to Aeron's and Kara's reconnaissance. They'd said there was a guard who patrolled nearby, but the door should be clear for five to ten minutes.

Of course, when Renn first waved the badge in front of the access panel, it stayed silent for longer than he'd expected before issuing a beep of acceptance. He had to fight not to look around trying to spot the patrolling guard. Finally the door opened to admit him, and he slipped inside.

That was the easy part.

Always look like you know where you're going; that was the first thing Ori had drilled into his head, when it was decided that he would have to do this himself. That was why he'd studied the map long enough back home that he should have the path to the systems room memorized.

It was a different kind of "on" state than Renn was used to, and somehow more tiring. He wasn't supposed to be charming or memorable right now. He needed to be a nondescript, tired worker. He nodded brusquely to people as he passed them, like someone who was busy and clearly on his way to do something. Up two more floors, and then he just had to follow the turns that he'd memorized.

He took what should have been the last turn, but there was only blank wall where he'd expected to see the door to the systems room. He must have gotten something wrong along the way. Damn it.

At least the nondescript coveralls he was wearing in his maintenance worker guise had allowed him to bring in everything he might need. He had his black box device and some tools for splicing the wires. He had also brought along a throwaway datapad which was loaded with a map of the Tower, a couple of utility programs in case he had to slice a terminal, and some fake messages assigning him to fix something with the camera feeds in case his presence in the systems room was caught and questioned.

Renn just kept walking as if he knew where he was going, keeping an eye out for an empty room or someplace isolated where he could consult his datapad. He remembered the map in general; he just didn't know exactly where he was right now in the maze of corridors and tiny rooms.

Another turn and he came across a more open area, where several people were standing around holding cups or mugs, talking in pairs or small groups. The counter nearby held a caf machine, as well as a water dispenser and some cups. He nodded to the nearest group of office workers, and got a cup of water to have an excuse to linger there for a minute, trying to reorient himself with what he remembered of the map. Some kind of galley or break room. Right. That actually helped. If he was where he thought he was, the systems room should be just around two more corners from his current location.

He discarded the water cup, and set out again. Finally, there was the systems room. He used his access card to slip inside quickly.

A brown-skinned man with black hair looked up from a terminal as he entered the room. "Hey," the man said. "Did you need something?"

Great. Of course someone would be in here. "Morning," Renn said, trying to sound vaguely bored. "I was sent down to look at an issue with the camera feeds. I might have to reroute power in here for a bit."

The other man leaned back in his chair with a groan of exasperation. "Seriously? They knew I was going to be working in here today."

"Sorry," Renn said, "someone up in central security was complaining, and you know how they get about that."

The other man made a face of disgust. "Yeah, not your fault. How long's it gonna be?"

"Maybe an hour?" That should be more than enough time to install his box and get clear.

The office worker grinned. "Excuse for an early lunch then, huh? Take your time."

As soon as the man left, Renn locked the door behind him. He spotted the cables on the ceiling for the camera and comm feeds, then followed them back to an out of the way junction, hidden behind the wall. That should be perfect. He carefully removed the wall panel, then pulled the black box out of his coveralls.

This was going to be the potentially tricky part. There was a chance the comms and cameras might go out for a few seconds while he was splicing them. Any comms disruptions would probably be ignored or dismissed as an issue on the other end; he wasn't worried about that. But if central security got suspicious about the cameras dropping out, someone might come down to investigate and find him here. His cover wouldn't stand up to deep scrutiny. So he was going to have to work fast.

He got everything in place first, laying out exactly how the box would fit in, hidden behind the bundle of wires and out of sight from casual observation. Then he pulled out a cutting tool. He did the comms first, quickly slicing into the cable and feeding it into his device. Then, with a deep breath to steady his nerves, he did the same with the cameras.

He reached up to touch his comlink as soon as everything was spliced in. "Check it," he said.

After about a minute, his mother's voice came back over the comms. "Looks good. Get out of there."

He didn't even bother to answer. He closed the wall panel, then packed his tools back up. He quickly opened the map on his datapad to confirm the route out before he headed out of the systems room. He didn't want to still be here if they sent someone down to investigate, after all. The box was hidden well enough that it shouldn't be found until someone did a real in-depth check of the junction. Hopefully, by then, their crew would be finished with this and long gone.

Renn was almost to the lift when he heard a voice behind him. "Hey, you!" He froze. "Maintenance, right?" He turned to see a harried-looking middle-aged blond woman waving at him from the door of one of the offices. "I've been trying to get them to send someone down for hours! My computer's being really glitchy."

He really didn't have time for this, but he couldn't say that without blowing his cover. "Sorry, I'm in the middle of something," he said.

Her lip quivered, like she was barely holding back tears. "I think I lost a whole day's work, and my boss is going to kill me. I needed to finish this report yesterday."

Renn groaned inwardly. "I'll take a look," he said, ducking into the woman's office. It would be more conspicuous not to at this point. Plus, fixing a computer issue should be a piece of cake for him.

She showed him her computer terminal, then took a seat off to the side, looking on in anxious concern.

He looked over the terminal. There might be an opportunity here, if he was careful. He sat down in front of the woman's computer and pulled out his datapad. "Diagnostic tools," he said, hooking it into her computer.

She nodded. "It keeps locking up every time I bring up last month's report. That one." She pointed to the offending file on the display.

"Right." It looked like some of her files were corrupted. He could run them through a repair utility and have it fixed in about five minutes.

"I think I can recover all your files, but it might take a little while," Renn said. "If you want to go get yourself some caf or something, maybe?"

"Oh, you're a lifesaver!" she said. She stood. "Can I get you some too?"

"Sure," he said. "Thanks." Anything to get her out of his way for a bit.

As soon as the woman left, he fixed her files, and then started downloading anything interesting he could find onto his datapad.

Renn was gone before she got back with the caf.

***

When he got back to the ship, Renn presented the datapad to Ori. "I downloaded some middle manager's files, I think. Dunno if there's anything useful, but there might be something."

She stared at it. "When exactly did you have time for this?" But she still took it.

"She cornered me on the way out. I had to stop and fix her computer, or else it would have blown my cover." He shrugged.

Ori looked at him appraisingly, then she nodded. "Good work, kiddo. Now go shave that ridiculous thing."

Renn had never been more grateful for an order in his life.

***

Ori returned to her work. Several of the monitors before her displayed the various camera feeds from the Tower that they now had access to.

Everything seemed pretty standard. The guards kept a semi-regular patrol schedule. There were cameras at all major intersections, and motion detectors and thermal cameras along important hallways. It was all very thorough.

But there were a few minor flaws.

First, the Bunker had a single access point, so the security was concentrated on it. Second, the security system was centralized, but the central security office was _outside_ the Vault, which meant all they could do was monitor the interior.

But, as always, the greatest flaws in a system were organic. So, she turned to the people she was observing, not the technology.

She began at the top. The man in charge of dang near everything at the Tower was a Rodian named Erzain Gerthard. Judging by the sheer amount of internal data with his name flagged in it, he was probably the sort of boss who either legitimately wanted to see everything, or who drove his employees insane with required nigh-on-constant paperwork.

She propped her feet up on the edge of her station desk and flipped through the datapad Renn had given her. Apparently, this woman liked to journal her anger. There were several files containing long rambling diatribes against the faults of her co-workers.

But then, Ori sat straight up. She'd just spotted Gerthard's name in one of the woman's obscenity-laden rants. Apparently, he'd taken exception to a potted plant she'd bought and placed in her office. He'd berated her for almost an hour regarding the rules against such things, how they were an open invitation for infestation. The woman continued, at some length, about how well known Gerthard's proclivities regarding neatness were, and about his apparently infamous fear of... insects....

The plan crystallized in that very instant.

"Meena, I've got an errand for you."

***

"Why do _I_ have to do this?" Meena asked, for about the twentieth time since Ori had given her this assignment. She wanted to help, really. But she'd rather do the Twi'lek dancing girl act again than have to do _this_.

Renn's voice came over the comlink against her ear. "Payback for all the fun you've been having at our expense," he said.

"But... ew...." She looked at the small container sitting in the passenger seat of the rented speeder, and shuddered again.

She pulled over a few blocks away from the tower. "Is B4 ready?" she asked.

"He should meet you at the loading dock in a few minutes," Renn said.

Meena picked up the container gingerly. At least it wasn't clear. Seeing the bugs for the first time when she'd picked them up had been enough, thank you very much. Apparently Ori had found them for sale as some kind of food for certain exotic reptile pets. Ugh.

She walked down the other side of the street from the Tower until she saw the loading bay. Sure enough, there was B4, or at least, she thought it was him, maneuvering a crate off of a pallet. She casually walked across the street, checking to make sure there were no guards nearby.

He set his crate down and looked at her expectantly.

This was weird. "Um, here," she said, handing him the small box. He took it in silence and turned back to his crate.

"He's not talking," Meena said.

Renn's voice came over her comlink again. "That's part of his disguise. He's not supposed to be too chatty. He's a labor droid, not a translator, right now."

"Oh." She looked at the droid again. "Good luck," she said. 

He didn't answer. 

Meena left before she blew his cover, and fled back across the street to go wash her hands.

***

Tomorrow, everything was going to happen.

Renn had retreated, alone, to the darkened, empty cargo hold, where he could pace and think. He knew everyone else was eating and laughing together, but he didn't really feel up to that right now. He didn't think he could sleep just yet, either. He was too keyed up. He rubbed the itchy stubble on his chin as he thought through everything.

Too much hinged on his part in this, and he couldn't stop his brain from running around in circles. He had the code written, and he had triple-checked it. All his preparations were done. There was nothing left he could turn his attention to, so he just kept mentally reviewing the plan over and over, all the ways it could go horribly wrong.

Renn felt Kara's presence before he heard her come in. Strange how he was starting to get used to that, knowing where she was without having to look. He stopped pacing, and waited for her.

"Hey," she said, coming over to where he was standing. "You're missing the party."

"Did Liana try to get everyone drunk again?" he asked.

She giggled. "Yeah, but Ori said no, because 'these kids can't hold their liquor'."

Renn snorted at her imitation of his mother's tone. "That sounds like her."

They just stood together like that for a while, not saying anything, but not really needing to. Without realizing it, he found he'd taken Kara's hand, or maybe she'd taken his. He wasn't sure it mattered.

"Kara-" he said, about the same time that she said, "Renn-"

"Stop that," they said in unison. They dissolved into laughter together.

Renn found himself looking into her bright, laughing green eyes, and thought of what Ori had told him. But he didn't want to face tomorrow with any regrets. He needed to do this now, or he might never have the chance to again.

He leaned down and kissed her once, on the lips, careful and gentle.

"Just in case something happens," he said, pulling away, "I-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," Kara said.

Renn chuckled awkwardly, looking away from her.

"Hey." She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him back around to look her square in the eye. "Listen to me. We braved a Sith blockade, twice, and fought unspeakable Force-demons. Compared to that, this is a piece of cake."

"I know. It's just... if I mess up again, I could take you all down with me. And I keep thinking about all the things that can go wrong with this plan."

"Stop thinking," Kara said, and pulled him closer. Their lips met again, and he felt her fingers slide into his hair. 

When she pulled away, Renn searched her eyes. He didn't have to ask aloud. She already knew what he needed to hear.

"Renn," she said, a bit breathlessly, "if I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be here. If I didn't want you to, believe me, you wouldn't."

She wanted this. She wanted _him._

He wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned in to kiss her again, gently. They pulled apart for just a moment, but immediately kissed again, deep and hungry and full of everything they had both been denying for far too long. He wanted to devour her.

Her hands tugged at his shirt, then slipped under it to run over his back. She moved away long enough to pull the shirt up over his head, then tossed it aside. He thought he heard something rip as she did so. But he didn't really care right now, not when she was trailing distracting kisses down his neck to his chest.

He unfastened the weapons' belt she wore and set it aside on the crate behind them, out of the way. She gasped as he ran his hands up under her shirt along her back, to her shoulders. Her tunic dropped to the floor. 

Passion, need, searing desire surged through him. He suddenly couldn't tell if it was his or hers. Maybe it belonged to both of them.

"We're sparking," Renn said against her ear.

"Less talking, spacer boy." Kara raised her head, and her lips found his again. 

They sank to their knees together on the cargo bay floor. He started to gently lower her backward, but she didn't let go of him. He wasn't expecting that. Pulled off-balance, he sprawled on top of her. 

They both laughed. Somehow, it didn't break the mood, only intensified the connection between them.

Renn met her eyes again. Kara answered his wordless query by pulling him down to her for another kiss. Her eager hands slipped over his chest, down to his belt. 

He groaned. It was getting damn hard to think straight, especially with her so close, skin against skin like fire. 

Well, she _had_ told him to stop thinking.... 


	8. Infiltration

Kara came out to breakfast the next morning to discover Aeron, Ori and Meena already seated at the table, sipping caf. She got herself a mug and a plate of some sort of textured protein she didn't recognize, then sat down at the table across from Aeron.

The young Jedi looked decidedly worse for wear. He had deep, dark smudges around his eyes, and he rubbed at the bridge of his nose in irritation.

"Aeron, are you all right?" she asked.

"Yes." He brusquely waved her concern aside. "I'm fine.... Totally fine."

A moment later, Renn emerged from the direction of the men's dormitory and joined them, going straight for the caf as he stifled a rumpled yawn. Kara watched him get his breakfast with a small, soft smile on her lips. He came over and sat next to her. No one else said a word.

It wasn't until Liana came in that the quiet became unbearable.

Kara set her utensils down and glared around. "All right, what's wrong?"

Liana looked at her with an arched eyebrow and gently lashing tail. "Do we need to re-assess the sleeping accommodations?"

Meena giggled and looked between the two of them, her chin on her hands.

Ori lifted her mug and snorted.

Renn glanced at Kara quickly, and then back down at his caf. They were both blushing now.

Liana sighed. "Very well, we have embarrassed them enough, I think."

Aeron massaged his temples. "Oh, not nearly enough yet, Liana. Trust me."

"What? Oh!" Realization came over Renn's face as he looked at Aeron. "Oh, hell."

Kara looked between the two men in confusion, until comprehension finally dawned on her as well. "Oh- Oh, my.... Aeron, we're so sorry...."

Aeron merely smiled and nodded. To the blank looks on the others' faces, he said, "It's an interpersonal issue that is unique to the three of us. My situation is slowly passing and I will be fine in perhaps an hour. May we _please_ change the subject now?"

"Aw," Meena reached over and patted Aeron's arm, obviously unaware of what the problem actually was.

Renn almost choked on his caf.

Ori cleared her throat. "Children. Focus. Your timing is terrible, but we still have a job to do today."

"Is everything prepared?" Liana asked.

Renn nodded. "My code is ready to upload. Also, I made sure our comms will transmit on frequencies they don't monitor. We should be able to keep in contact with no issues once we're out of view."

Meena spoke up. "B4 has the crawlers ready to release. Once he seeds the Bunker, he'll report it in to the central security office, and I'll be monitoring the comm lines."

Kara took up the thread. "The equipment is ready to go, too. I'll take in some, and T5 will have the rest. That way it won't read on the security scanners."

Liana finished the list. "The lift van is ready for when we need to make a quick exit."

Ori grinned. "Sounds like we're all ready. Aeron, when is your protest supposed to begin?"

"In about four hours," Aeron replied.

"Great. Let's go ruin Mr. Gerthard's day...."

***

Mr. Erzain Gerthard was not a mean nor spiteful person.

Sure, many of his employees might see him that way, but they failed to understand that what he strove for was not perfection... but efficiency. Efficiency improved the situation of all. It eased the universal burden and allowed every piece of the elegant construct that was the Tower to function in its sublime harmony.

So, yes, he drove his people hard. Ever in search of greater and greater efficiency, that their lives may be made easier, that the system should run smoother, and their all-important clients made happy. Because, in the final analysis, wasn't that their ultimate goal? To please the client?

If he had to trod on the eggshell-thin feelings of one or two lower cogs in his grand machine so that the higher functionaries could be made more efficient, was that not worth the tears? And so it was that this morning he surveyed a security camera image of the growing mob outside with an equally increasing sense of trepidation. Such gatherings were inefficient. Inefficiency was more than just detrimental, it was positively evil.

He was about to place a call to the local constabulary to disperse the heathens when his desk comm lit up with an incoming report from one of the Bunker's patrol droids. A class-five unauthorized organic being.

That raised an eyebrow. Class-five meant a small, unintelligent organic. Possibly a rodent or insect. But in the Bunker? That should have been impossible. He tasked the droid with providing more detail.

The report came in, and Gerthard cringed in disgust.

Tenalpian Crawlers.

Foul, many legged, tubular... _bugs._ Insects were bad enough, but _crawlers...._ They could be harmful to the building's wiring. How had they gotten this far into the Tower?

With a grimace, Gerthard tasked one of his underlings with placing the necessary call.

From his desk atop the central dais, he watched as the call was placed, and pleasant-looking young woman answered. A team could be dispatched the next day.

"Not good enough!" Gerthard said, pounding his desktop with one fist. "We demand service, _now!_ We are a priority client of yours, young Miss. Dispatch your extermination techs immediately. Is that clear?"

The girl was obviously flustered. "Y- yes, sir! A crew will be dispatched immediately."

"Very good. Tamson? Hang up forcefully."

At the lower station, Tamson stabbed the disconnect button.

Bloody inefficiency....

***

Meena looked over at the others when she was sure the comm had disconnected. "Okay, there's the invitation," she said.

Renn carefully placed the computer spike containing the system update into his pocket. The four of them who were going in were all wearing uniform coveralls, much like the ones he'd wore earlier in his maintenance tech disguise.

He crouched down and tried to open T5's side panel. The droid beeped in irritation. "We discussed this," Renn said. "It's just a backup. It's not going to do anything to you." He inserted a second computer spike into T5, which contained a copy of the patch in an isolated code block, just in case something went wrong and they needed to improvise.

Then Renn took a deep breath and stood. "I'm all set."

Ori nodded. "All right everyone, saddle up. Liana, be ready if we need a quick escape. Meena, be ready for our call."

"Right," Meena said. "Good luck, everyone!"

***

There are many annoying things about working front desk security.

The biggest is that nobody ever thinks the rules apply to them: from people who show up with an irrelevant photo ID card and ask to be let through to some place with strict access rules that require more than a photo ID card; to executives who think the guard should just recognize them and allow them upstairs based on their say so alone; to strangers off the street proclaiming the word of one god or another from atop the reception desk; to vendors who don't bother to use the damn service entrance....

This group was clearly ignorant of the rules. Four humans, all in maintenance worker coveralls and carrying a bizarre array of equipment, and one highly aggressive astromech droid.

One, probably their foreman, stepped up to the reception desk. She was an older woman, with a patch over one eye. "We got a call to come down here and kill us some bugs," she said, her voice echoing off the walls and drawing the attention of the entire lobby.

The tired young man at the desk sighed. This job just wasn't worth it most days.... "Just a moment," he said, and rang though to the head of Facilities.

Sure enough, the exterminators had been summoned, and the droid who had filed the initial report was en route to take charge of them. The desk guard thanked him sarcastically for letting Security know they were coming, and hung up. Then he told the crew to wait while he comlinked the central security office.

"Security office, this is the front desk. We have some unscheduled exterminators here...."

He didn't even get to finish before Mr. Gerthard's piercing voice stabbed his ear. "It's about damn time! Get them up here as soon as possible!"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Gerthard. Desk, out." He cut the connection with a wince.

A minute later, one of the building's labor droids appeared. The guard waved them all through. They entered a lift the droid summoned, and the guard promptly filed them away under 'not my problem anymore.'

***

In the lift, Ori said, just loud enough to hear, "When we get into the Bunker, we'll split up. Aeron and I head for the security office. Renn, take Kara and the droids. Get to a camera blind spot and give B4 the makeover."

"Right," Renn said.

The door opened and they filed out into an interior room ringed with armed guards. B4 conducted them to a checkpoint where all their equipment, including T5, was thoroughly scanned.

"No weapons or unauthorized tech," the guard said.

An obviously more senior guard nodded. "All right. All of you, give me your left hands."

The four exterminators presented their wrists and the guard snapped electronic wristbands around each. "These will allow entry through any door you have access to. Just wave the band over the little black panel next to the door. They also allow us to track your moments within the building. If you try to access an area you aren't authorized for, it will alert security. If you try to remove the band, it will alert security. If the band stops functioning...."

"It will alert security?" Kara asked with a grin.

"Yeah," the guard said, sounding annoyed. "And then we shoot you. Clear?"

She looked shocked and shut up.

"Now, please attach this secondary restraining bolt to your droid. This will function the same way as the bands do for you."

Renn took the bolt and secured it atop the false primary restraining bolt adorning T5. For once the droid didn't protest, probably because he knew the dummy bolt would stop the secondary one from directly interfering with his systems.

Then the immensely thick security door leading into the Bunker swung ponderously open and the senior guard turned to B4. "Go ahead and take them up to Mr. Gerthard's office."

***

Kara tried not to wince as the heavy security door closed again. For so massive a thing, it made surprisingly little sound as it sealed behind them.

Almost reflexively, she reached for the spot on her belt where her lightsaber normally hung, but it was back at the ship. All of their weapons were. The scanner they'd gone through downstairs would have detected them, even the crystals at the cores of her and Aeron's blades.

She took a deep breath, and focused on the plan. From here on, it was all a matter of timing. Communication would be critical, but for now they had to assume they were being observed, so no comlinks. Which meant her and Aeron's ability to communicate through the Force would be crucial.

As they neared their destination, Ori paused. "Droid, I know we have to report to the big boss, but do we _all_ have to be there? Once we get to his office, myself and my assistant could speak with him, and you could take those two and our maintenance bot to where you found the infestation. It would be much more efficient that way."

"Your request complies with all established protocols," B4 said. "Mr. Gerthard is located in the central security office. Turn right at the next intersection and proceed to the end of the hallway. Your wristbands are cleared for entry. I will proceed to the original site of infestation with your associates."

Ori nodded, and she and Aeron went one way, while the rest went another.

***

Aeron was one pace to the right and behind Ori as they approached the final turn to Gerthard's office.

At her nod, they both donned hood-goggle-rebreather combo units that completely hid their faces, and readied the spray wands connected to the large tanks of 'bug spray'. Aeron also surreptitiously prepared the canister at his hip, along with its special cargo.

They reached the door and Ori passed her wristband over the little black panel next it. The door slid open on the nerve center of the the entire Tower.

Two concentric rings of duty stations ran around the circular space. In the center, on a slightly raised dais, sat a single, larger station. Behind the computer on the dais was one harried-looking Rodian.

"It's about time you got here!" the Rodian said.

"Oh no, you're still _here?"_ Ori said. "Uh, Mr. Geethrad, I presume?"

"Gerthard! Where are the rest of you?"

Aeron began a circuit of the room, peering under desks and into crevices between racks of monitors and computers, as Ori answered Gerthard's question. "They're tracing the infestation to its root. More to the point, why are you and your employees still _here?_ We can't spray this room until you vacate the area."

Gerthard drew himself to his full height. Aeron rather thought he should have spared himself the effort; it wasn't terribly impressive.

"Vacate?!" He burbled something unintelligible. "Quite impossible! This is the security center for the entire building. If we abandon it, the Tower is vulnerable."

Aeron completed his walk around the room, using Gerthard's distraction to snap his hip canister closed. None of the workers at the lower stations had even looked up since he and Ori had entered. They must live in fear of looking... inefficient. Yes, that was the word that Gerthard's mind was all but shouting.

"Mr. Gerthard, sir," Aeron said, "we understand what you're saying, but we _can't_ start with other people in the room. The chemicals we are required to use are very, _very_ toxic. So the longer we stay here arguing procedure, the more inefficient we're all going to be."

He was weakening, Aeron could tell. That was a palpable hit. Time to drive him over the edge. He nodded to Ori. "Yeah, boss," he said, "they've been here. Probably still here somewhere."

Gerthard spun on Aeron and all but screamed at him, spittle flying. "They're not _here,_ you incompetent! Outside, maybe. But not in my sanctum!"

Aeron reached up and wiped off his faceplate with one gloved hand, using the gesture to reach out with the Force and gently lift the Tenalpian Crawler he'd dropped from his hip canister into the air, directly above Gerthard.

Ori spoke up in defense of her 'employee'. "Mr. Gertrad, do _not_ speak that way to my employee. He's an expert on this species."

The Rodian whirled on her. "Gerthard! _Gerth-ard!"_

And, mentally promising his Master not to enjoy this too much, Aeron dropped the wriggling, slimy little creature straight down the back of the irate man's neck.

The tone Erzain Gerthard made was at the outer edge of human hearing. He instantly began clawing at his back, writhing all about and eventually ripping his elegant suit jacket and shirt off completely and flinging it away in disgust.

"Look," Ori said, raising her hands, "we will go as quickly as we can. The chemicals will break down to safe levels in about twenty minutes, and then you can come back in. But we need you all to leave, _now."_

Gerthard panted like a bellows after his panic attack. "You... heard... the lady," he said between gasps. "Everyone out... _now!"_

The workers fled.

Gerthard gathered what shreds remained of his dignity, and Aeron handed him his suit jacket and shirt as he stepped down from the dais. "You have twenty minutes. No more."

Ori saluted. "No more. Thank you, sir... for understanding."

He harrumphed and exited, the door sealing behind him.

"Ass," Ori said as she tore her mask off. "Aeron, start spraying around the door. Make sure the people outside get a whiff of that garbage, but don't breathe any yourself. Did you swap Gerthard's datapad?"

Aeron nodded and tossed it to her. "Smooth work, Jedi," Ori said. "Can you get a status report from Kara?"

"Sure," he said as he began laying down a cloud of the heavier than air, foul smelling mixture of inert gasses. He reached deep into the Force, felt for the spot that was Kara's blazing presence. 'Kara,' he sent, 'we're in....' He added an image of Ori, hurriedly slicing the system at Gerthard's station.

***

Renn, Kara, and T5 followed B4 to the 'infestation site', which was one of the camera blind spots that they'd identified earlier. When B4 stopped and turned toward them, Renn checked the area out. The cameras were fairly obvious on the wall, and the area without coverage wasn't huge, but they should be able to make this work. He nodded toward the cameras, and Kara nodded back to say she'd seen them, too. Good.

Renn crouched to retrieve the components T5 was carrying, being careful to stay out of sight of the cameras. Then he turned his head toward Kara. "I can reassemble this stuff faster than you can," he said. "Keep watch, okay?"

"Right," she said. She handed him the parts that she was carrying. He trusted her to alert him to any danger, and focused all his attention on the task at hand. Working as quickly as he could, he reassembled the weapons components with an expert efficiency. He'd only been practicing this for a couple of days, but it was simple enough tech.

Once Renn had everything put back together, he started attaching the pieces to B4's chassis, transforming him from a common labor droid into one of the more heavily-armed similar models that guarded the Vault.

That done, Renn stood to see Kara staring blankly into space. "Hey, you still with me?" he asked.

She shook herself awake. "Yeah, sorry. Aeron and Ori are in. She's slicing the system now."

He nodded. Now they just had to wait....

Ori's voice came over the comm in Renn's ear. "I'm sending the access code to your datapad now. Your wristband will deactivate in a moment. You know the plan."

Renn checked his datapad to confirm. "Right, I've got the code," he said, looking down at his wrist. After a few seconds, the lights on the band went out and it popped open on its own. He quickly slipped it off and bent to attach it to T5.

B4 stepped forward. He'd obviously gotten his official orders to escort Renn to the Vault.

"This is it," he said, glancing at Kara.

She kissed him quickly on the lips. "Good luck," she whispered, and then she and T5 headed off to play decoy with his wristband.

"Please follow me," B4 said. "I will escort you into the Vault to complete the maintenance."

"Right," Renn said again. He took a deep breath and started after the droid, dodging the cameras as much as possible.

The turbolift into the Vault was lit by too-bright white lights, and a huge security panel glowing with ominous red. Renn pulled out his datapad again, and copied the long code carefully into the security input, triple-checking it before pressing enter.

To his relief, the panel turned green, and the lift opened. He stowed his datapad again as he and B4 stepped aboard.

It seemed like it took forever, though it was only a scant minute or two as they ascended into the core of the building. Renn reached inside his coveralls and closed his hand around the computer spike, reassuring himself that he still had it.

The top of the turbolift was in a small antechamber outside of the Vault proper. Two more of the heavily armed Vault droids waited there. B4 stepped forward and Renn followed, expecting to get shot any minute. But B4's presence seemed to keep them from reacting. They just stared unnervingly in his direction as he passed them.

They entered the large room that took up all of the space in the Vault, and Renn gaped for a moment. Banks of computer servers lined every wall. Additional servers were spaced about the room, in tall columns reaching to the ceiling. And, on the far side from the door, there was the only actual interface in the whole place, a small terminal. That had to be the control system.

He strode quickly over to it. First, he checked to make sure he could access the system he needed from here. The terminal wasn't locked down. Why would it be, when you had to get through that gauntlet even to reach it? Then, his hands flew over the interface, looking for his own fingerprints in the code, checking for the backdoor subroutine he'd written so long ago.

There it was.

Six years of his life, and so much blood and pain, for this.

He stared at the familiar code, parsing through it. Imagine what he could have done if he had just cut the Exchange out of the loop and used the backdoor for himself. If he hadn't been so scared. He could have used it to destroy them years ago. He could have used it to get anything he wanted.

He still could, if he tweaked his patch a tiny bit....

Renn hesitated over that thought for a moment, and then shook his head and inserted the computer spike containing the patch.

It wasn't worth it. He had something now that he didn't dare risk losing.

He studied the display. It wasn't as simple as just yanking out a couple of blocks of code. The backdoor was too deeply integrated into the system for complete removal; that would have taken time they didn't have. But because the point of this exercise was to get him off the Exchange's radar, that meant he would have to remove certain core pieces of it.

His patch had been written to prevent the backdoor from ever opening again, or being accessible at all even with the right key. It would, more or less, remove the keyhole instead: disabling the triggering sequence and isolating the ability of the backdoor subroutine to access any of the rest of the systems. Although the few remnants he had to leave should do no harm on their own, he'd also added a bit of a surprise that would activate if anyone tried to put them to use. He had plans for that surprise, if he could make it work.

First, though, he needed to integrate his new code into the computer's core systems. Of course, this kind of complex system couldn't stay static over six years. There were other security patches, other code changes. He found himself having to compensate on the fly for half a dozen terrible coders who'd had their fingers in this in the intervening time.

"How's it going, kid?" Ori asked in his ear.

"System's changed a lot in six years. It's taking longer to integrate the patch than I anticipated, but I'm close," Renn said.

"Hurry," Ori said.

"Oh no, really?" he muttered to himself. "I thought I'd stop for a cup of caf while I'm up here."

"You realize comms are still open?" Aeron asked.

"Everyone shut up and let him work," Kara said.

"Yes, that would be nice," Renn said, trying to tune them all out.

***

In the central security office, Aeron's and Ori's spray tanks had long since run dry. On the other side of the door, the workers were restless. They'd inquired over the intercom repeatedly if it was safe to re-enter. They couldn't hear any more spraying. Were the exterminators _sure_ the chemical was still unsafe to breathe...?

"Ori," Aeron said over comms, "I can't stall them much more."

Ori said something that she'd grounded Renn for as a child. "Do what you have to!"

Aeron sighed and reached deep into the Force, searching....

***

Onsanu Dazee had been a whiz-bang Rocketball pitcher back in his school days. All the major league scouts had an interest in him. His path to the big leagues seemed assured.

Then his Pa had gotten sick. The water-clan needed money to pay the bills, and Onsanu was still years away from serious paychecks. So he'd stumbled on an early payday. He fixed games for bookies. He shaved points. He bet on the games he threw in.

It had even worked, for a while. He made enough to pay Pa's bills. But then, the teams found out, and the 'Pride of Cormandu Village' was sent packing.

Blackballed by the leagues, he couldn't do what he was meant for. He had no other marketable skills. Within three years he was an unemployed bum on his mother's couch.

And all because he couldn't get the rich folks to give him a loan against the millions he'd bring as a pro.

So, when he'd heard about the big protest in the financial hub of the Galactic Core (and coincidentally mere miles from his family's house), he was _in._

But now, the throngs of protesters were just standing around, holding signs dispiritedly and not doing anything to scratch his revenge itch.

In desperation, he looked around and spotted a rock by his left foot. It was a good size, nice heft. He picked it up and... yeah, this would do.

He went into his wind up, pouring all his impotent rage, the years of humiliation, the sneers, the jeers, and all his tears into the motion. He focused his power, cleared his mental mechanism and let fly his famous powerball two-seamer right down the chute of all his wrath....

Of course, it was just a rock. And the windows of the Tower Financial Center had to be strong enough to deflect a single rock... but this was Onsanu Dazee, the Pride of Cormandu Village. Once the scourge of Rocketball. His powerball cleaved the hammers of many a smashing legend, and in the throes of his anger, _he... knew... no... equal!_

The stone struck the transparisteel window, and it splintered to fall in a satisfying rain of shards.

Of course, that's when the meter-thick durasteel security curtains dropped all over the Tower, and the sirens blared and the police descended....

But it _had_ been one hell of a pitch.

***

Kara and T5 made their way around the Bunker hallways, sweeping the area with portable bio scanners, looking for bugs that weren't there.

Every so often, T5 would beep and they would change direction, according to a map he had downloaded. The route was chosen so that Kara and the droid would appear briefly on the security cameras, but in such a way that Renn _could_ still be with them, just out of frame.

Through it all, Kara's sense of dread only grew. Something was most definitely _not_ right.

At least, she thought, there wasn't supposed to be a guard sweep of the area for another hour.

Through it all, T5 continued to grumble. It wasn't hard to guess what the rotund droid was saying.... 'Why does B4 get a weapon and I don't?' and 'You _should_ have armed me!' Kara decided not to argue the point. It would only infuriate the little guy.

Out of nowhere, the memory of joking with Renn about always wanting to be a criminal resurfaced. A small smile played about her lips as she continued down the hallway.

It wasn't until she heard voices talking about some sort of sports game that she suddenly realized she was in a blind hallway, no doors or turns within reach, save for the one that the pair of incoming guards were about to round.

"The Outer Rim Series is going to determine the whole Galactic Champion," one was saying.

The other said, "No other conference.... Oh! How did you get in here?"

Kara raised both hands and smiled broadly. "I'm one of the exterminators.... See?" She showed them her wristband.

The first guard took some sort of hand-held scanner and swiped it over the band. It beeped. "Yeah, Gones. She's authorized." They both visibly relaxed.

"Finding any bugs?" the second guard asked as the first moved the scanner toward T5.

"Some," Kara said.

The first guard's scanner beeped. Twice.

All three organics and one droid stared at each other, and then a loud alarm tore through the entire building. Massive durasteel security shutters slammed shut with thunderous echoing booms.

Before Kara or T5 could even react, the guards had weapons trained on them both.

***

Aeron's journey into the Force was interrupted by a suddenly blaring alarm.

The door to the central office slammed open and Gerthrad, his staff, and a dozen heavily armed guards and droids stormed in.

"What the blazes is going on here?!" Gerthard asked in a shrill voice. "The building is in lockdown.... _Why is that woman at my desk?!"_

Aeron stepped between the guards and Ori and reached deep into the Force, projecting his will at Gerthard and his men. "We are cleaning-" Quick as lightning, one of the droids slapped some sort of medicated patch on Aeron's cheek. "-the....off...off.....ugggghhh...." And he fell boneless into a snoring heap.

Ori stepped away from the console and raised her hands as the guards moved in, their weapons leveled.

One of the techs quickly scanned the readouts at their station. "She dispatched a droid to take one of her workers into the Vault!" he said in alarm.

Gerthard's face lost all color. "Has it been accessed? Was the Vault breached?!"

"The worker is in the Vault but the systems show no changes."

"Have him seized immediately! And round up the rest of them!"

***

Renn had just finished the code integration and was trying to complete a final test, just to be sure, when alarms started blaring, and every light in the Vault turned red.

"What happened?" he asked, but there was no reply over comms.

Behind him, B4 said, "The building appears to be in lockdown."

This was bad. Very bad.

The other two droids from the antechamber stepped inside, their weapons raised.

I'm going to die, Renn thought, with an oddly calm clarity.

But then B4 spoke up again, his own weapons also trained on Renn now. "I have been ordered to bring the intruder down for questioning."

"Acknowledged," said the other droids, not lowering their weapons.

B4 pushed him forward, back toward the turbolift.

***

Renn was unceremoniously deposited in a sparse, utilitarian room, with nothing but a table and a couple of chairs. Everything he had on him had been removed, including his tools and his fake identi-card. B4 remained inside with him as a guard. They were probably going to try to interrogate him, then. Great.

B4 leaned down and attached Renn's wrists to the table with a pair of short-chained shackles. They had just enough slack for him to lean forward, but not enough for him to sit up straight.

Oh, this did not bode well....

He looked up as the door opened, and a male Rodian stomped in, trailed by a human aide carrying a datapad.

The Rodian glared at Renn, who smiled back pleasantly. Might as well piss the guy off some if he was stuck here anyway.

"His name is... Jouriv Skeet, Mr. Gerthard," the aide said, consulting a datapad. "He's... an Exchange thug from Nar Shaddaa." The man frowned. "He arrived on Brentaal IV about a week ago, on a light freighter called the Pioneer."

"Alleged," Renn said.

"Excuse me?" Gerthard said, his voice raising one grating octave.

"Alleged Exchange thug," Renn said. "As in, never charged, never convicted. Your partner there is committing slander. I could litigate...."

The Rodian sniffed disdainfully and motioned with one sucker-tipped finger. "Tamson."

Gethard's aide set his datapad down and backhanded Renn across his left cheek.

"Now, Mr. Skeet, alleged Exchange thug from Nar Shaddaa... do you have _any_ idea how much trouble you're in?"

"I have a pretty good idea, yeah," Renn said. At least his fake identity was holding.

"I don't think you do," Gerthard said. "I think you're expecting us to turn you over to the local police. That you'll get a comm-call, and a lawyer... that maybe you'll do a couple of years for breaking in here.... Well, I hate to disabuse you of the notion." He motioned with two fingers this time and his aide hit Renn again, across his other cheek.

"You don't even know from _whom_ you were stealing, do you? The Hutts? The Exchange? Some government or other? No, boy. Nothing so prosaic."

Renn didn't say anything.

"Is it sinking in, then?" the Rodian asked. "See, the _worst_ thing we can do is hand you over to the cops right now. If we don't have the name of who hired you to placate our clients with, then we have to blame this on _you._ And if we blame you, they will blame you. And that wont finish well for you."

This time when Gerthard motioned, it wasn't to his aide, but to the one-way mirror behind him. Suddenly, the mirroring fell away as a light in the other room was activated and the light in Renn's cell was dimmed.

Kara sat shackled to a table identical to the one Renn was chained to. She was alone in the room, aside from a pair of the armed Vault droids.

"It won't finish well for any of you," Gerthard said.

As the droids in Kara's cell turned and raised weapons toward her, the lights swapped again and Renn was suddenly staring at his own reflection.

He fought to stay calm. If he gave them any sign that hurting her would hurt him, they'd keep using her against him. He took a deep breath. "It was an Exchange boss named Nura," he said. "He set the whole thing up. He wanted some records wiped."

"If Nura wanted something gone, he could have just asked _me_ to do it. Why send in a crew of... amateurs?"

Of course the bastard was corrupt. Figured. Well, this cover story might work even better if Gerthard knew a bit about the Exchange. "He didn't want it getting back to the other bosses. I don't know why. Way above our level. We just do what we're told."

"All right... I think we'll need to keep you in storage until we need you again." Gerthard chortled. "Tamson! Call the constables. Have them cart this rabble off."

Renn's head snapped as far up as it was able. "But you said...."

"Don't worry, boy. They'll just hold you for now. If this doesn't check out, _then_ they'll make you wish I'd simply killed you."

***

Gethard was pleased, smug even. He had protected his Vault. He had protected his clients from whatever this idiocy was. He had Tamson make a note to inquire of Qui or one of the other Overbosses as to the scum's story.

Now, the authorities were coming to take them to off his hands. He ordered all of the criminals brought to the loading dock, so he could hand them off personally. Three of the Vault droids accompanied him as security, including the one who had apprehended the intruder.

When the police vehicle arrived at last, only a pair of officers emerged. "You're late!" he said. "And why are there only two of you? This is a major breach of security, and all they send is a Twi'lek and a Cathar?"

The tall Cathar officer glared and stalked up to him. "Would you like to be arrested for interfering with a police investigation?" she said, poking a clawed finger into his chest with each of her next words. "And. Then. Resisting. Arrest?

He paled. "N-no," he said. He stepped back, rubbing at the sore spot in the center of his chest.

"Then I suggest you step aside and let us do our job." She looked back at her partner. "Stun them, and load them into the vehicle."

"Right," said the other officer, taking a stunner from her belt.

"Hey, wait a minute!" the mouthy one said. Then the police woman's stunner discharged and the blue waves of the wide-angle stun bolt sent them all to to the pavement.

The mouthy one, Gerthard noted with pleasure, made a very satisfying thunk as his head hit the loading dock.

The Cathar officer glowered at Gerthard again. "As you have noted, we are short-handed thanks to the riot. We'll need to borrow one of your droids to help guard the prisoners. You don't have a problem with that, do you?" Her smile was all sharp teeth.

He shook his head. "You." He gestured to one of the droids. "Go with them. Bring back a full report."

"That's all of them," said the Twi'lek, putting her stunner away after having checked the unconscious criminals. The Cathar went to help her partner load the prisoners into their van. His droid climbed in after them, and the two officers drove off.

Finally, he would be able to get his operation back to its normal efficiency.

His glee lasted as long as it took to realize another police lift van was approaching, lights flashing. Probably headed for the riot, Gerthard thought. But no, this van dropped directly into the loading dock and several burly officers jumped out.

"Director Gerthard?" the lead officer asked. "We're here to take custody of your intruders."

"Wait, what?"


	9. Freedom

Renn awoke, yet again, in the Wanderer's medbay. The hum of the engines indicated they were in hyperspace, but he couldn't remember anything past getting stunned. His pounding headache told him why he was here. He raised a hand to his head and found it wrapped in a bandage. He stifled a groan.

"Rennie?" The tentative voice from nearby was Meena's. "I'm so sorry!" She grabbed his arms to help him sit up. 

"You know, I'm getting tired of waking up in here. What happened?" 

She looked embarrassed. "You kind of accidentally hit your head when I stunned you," she said. "I'm so, so, _so_ sorry!"

"Well, that explains the headache."

"Here!" She brought him some water and a couple of painkillers. He swallowed them down. He reached up to the bandage on his head again, and Meena helped him take it off to inspect the damage. He had a nice cut and a bruise on his forehead where he had apparently hit the floor hard. No wonder he had a headache.

"Hey, Meena," he asked, "did we all make it out all right?"

"Well, mostly. They gave Aeron some kind of drug, and he's been out of it about eight hours so far, but he doesn't seem to be in any real danger. Other than that, everyone's fine. Although Liana was really grumpy about having to wear clothes, and being mistaken for a Cathar."

Renn laughed. "Yeah, people do that to her that all the time and she hates it." After a moment, a thought occurred to him. "Was that whole escape improvised?"

Meena hesitated, then shook her head. "It was Ori's backup plan. Only Liana and I knew about most of it."

"And why didn't anyone tell the rest of us?!" 

"She wanted to make sure none of you could accidentally give it away if you were captured and questioned." Meena looked away. 

Renn thought of how they had threatened Kara to get him to talk. If they had actually hurt her, he wasn't sure what he would've said or done to make them stop. His mother had made the right call, as much as he didn't like it. 

"Yeah, that makes sense," he said. "But we're free and clear now?"

"Looks that way," Meena said, hugging him gently. "We've been monitoring as best we can, but we haven't seen or heard anything that identified us."

Renn leaned his aching head against his friend's shoulder. "Good." He was tired of running and hiding. It would be nice to finally be able to relax for a while.

***

Once the painkillers had kicked in, Meena helped Renn up and out into the main hold, where everyone — save for Aeron, who was still sleeping off the one-two punch of drug and stunner — was sitting around the table.

"Hey," he said.

Kara exploded off the bench, nearly tripping over her own feet in the process, and practically flew into his arms with a glad cry of "Renn!".

Meena, perhaps wisely, got out of her way.

"Oof!" Renn gasped as Kara slammed into him harder than he was expecting. "Ow! Careful, farm girl. Don't break me."

"No promises," she said against his chest, almost in tears.

He held her close. If he wasn't careful, he really _could_ get used to this.

Liana wasn't far behind Kara, and she wrapped her arms around both of them. "I am glad you're okay," she said.

"Me, too," Renn said. "But there's still one more thing I need to do."

Liana took a step back, looking at him curiously. Kara blinked up at him. Meena looked perplexed. "Rennie?" she asked. "What do you mean?"

Renn met his mother's gaze, where she was still sitting at the table. Ori nodded at him. "You need to make a call."

"Yeah."

"Explain," Liana said, baring her teeth. Her tail lashed in irritation. "I thought it was enough to close this backdoor."

Renn shook his head. "Right now," he said, "no one knows what we did in there. The Exchange is just going to keep coming after me. In order to finish this, I need to talk to a very dangerous man in the Exchange, and convince him to stop hunting me. I know he already knows about Mom, but he might not know about the rest of you specifically, and I want to keep it that way."

He looked down into the eyes of the woman in his arms. He did not want the Exchange using his family to get to him, no matter what. Especially not her. "This part, I _do_ need to do alone."

Kara seemed confused for a moment, but then she nodded, as if she understood.

He kissed her, and then reluctantly released her. "I promise, this won't take long," he said, and headed to the comm station in the cockpit.

First, he had a little prep work to do.

***

"Loraan Nura." Renn greeted the Twi'lek man who appeared on the viewscreen.

"Taeren Ket." Tivosh's boss looked irritated, but then he usually had, the handful of times Renn had seen him before. He was a hard man, all muscle and scars. The large Twi'lek bore the tell-tale signs of having once been a slave to the Hutts, a promise written on his green skin that he would never be so again. Renn actually kind of respected him for that, even if the man was a murderer.

"You killed Tivosh," Nura said, his voice flat. "I suppose I should thank you for ridding me of that idiot before I had to do it myself. What do you want?"

Renn tried not to think too hard about Tivosh's death, or his own part in it. This was the most crucial part of the whole operation. If this conversation went wrong, everything they'd done in the Tower would be for nothing.

"I'm done, Nura. Call off your dogs and I'll give you what you want."

"Why the sudden change of heart?"

The truth was the easiest answer. "I'm tired of running, and I'm tired of looking over my shoulder constantly. Tivosh almost killed me. I don't care what you do with the backdoor anymore. It isn't worth my life."

"And why would you expect me to agree?" Nura was obviously trying to keep him talking so his own techs could trace the signal. 

Of course, Renn was scrambling it through as many different relays as he could, so it couldn't be traced back to the Wanderer. It was almost insulting. Didn't Nura understand the level of slicer he was dealing with? Did the man think he was stupid?

"Tivosh had a personal grudge against me," Renn said in a measured voice. "You don't. You just want access, and I can give it to you."

Nura had clearly gotten word back that his people couldn't trace the transmission, because he was done making pleasant conversation. "Send the sequence to me. If it checks out, I will remove the price on your head."

And here came the gamble. "That's not how this works, Nura. I only have one bargaining chip here. I'm _not_ giving it away for free. I want out of Exchange business, forever. I want you to leave me and my family alone. You drop the bounty on me first, and I get your word that you won't go after anyone else I care about. That's my price."

To his surprise and relief, Nura laughed. "Good. You're not an idiot. I'm tired of dealing with idiots." He tapped a few times on his console. "Very well, I agree to your terms. I will order the removal of the price on your head."

Renn fought hard not to glance behind him, to where he knew the others were very probably eavesdropping. "And my family? My friends?"

"They will be undisturbed, of course. Assuming the access checks out. My word."

Renn surreptitiously checked the Exchange backchannels that he was monitoring on his second display. It seemed like Nura really was good as his word. He'd already sent out a stand down order with regards to the bounty on Taeren Ket and all known associates, as well as the order to watch his mother. 

Even better, Tivosh hadn't passed any information up the food chain about his new identity. Maybe Gaman hadn't even told him. That's what Renn would've done in Gaman's place: try to keep the upper hand and keep himself useful by not giving them everything.

He sighed for Nura's benefit. "I suppose that's the best I can hope for, huh?"

"It is. My word is good."

"Fine." A few keystrokes and it was done. Renn sent Nura the access sequence for a backdoor that was broken, but would sure as hell look like it had opened, for just long enough. "Pleasure doing business," he said, not quite able to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

The Twi'lek glowered at him. "You'd best hope I never have to hear your name again, Taeren Ket." He cut the comm.

Renn Falani smiled broadly at the darkened viewscreen. "Trust me, you won't."

***

"We have earned a break, after all that," Liana was saying as Renn came back into the main hold. "Where should we take our shore leave?" If they had been eavesdropping, they'd sure gotten back to their seats in a hurry. Or else they'd tapped into his comm console.

He stopped in the doorway and stared at his Captain. "Seriously?"

"You've already been outvoted. Sit down."

"We don't have money to waste on something like that. We should be spending it on the ship...."

"I'm paying for it," Meena said, grinning. "Or I guess technically you are, because I still have your money."

Renn just shook his head. The motion reminded him that he had one hell of headache lurking behind the painkillers. He came over to the table and dropped onto the bench beside Kara with a groan.

"So," Kara asked as she snuggled up next to Renn, "where _should_ we go? I vote somewhere warm with wide open skies. I haven't seen a purely natural horizon in over a year."

Renn rested his head on her shoulder. "If I'm going to be outvoted anyway, then whatever she wants," he said, closing his eyes. It eased his headache a little, and she was warm and comfortable.

"That does sound great," Meena said. "I didn't get to go downside very often living on the station."

Liana nodded. "It will be nice to have some fresh air and uncramped quarters for a few days. After that, we can figure out where we're going next." She picked up a datapad and started searching for a destination.

Kara spoke low, for Renn's ears alone. "Whatever she wants, huh? What if she wants a scruffy spacer boy with more one-liners than common sense and a penchant for getting his crewmates in hot water?"

Renn lifted his head off her shoulder and opened his eyes again. "Well," he said, in the same low tone, "if she's sure she can put up with him, she can have him." He leaned in to kiss her.

From across the table, Ori sighed. "Children? Get a room."

Renn jumped, then groaned again and put his head in his hands.

"Renn, why don't you go lie down if you're not feeling well?" Liana said.

"No, I'm fine." He lifted his head again. Next to him, Kara was looking down, blushing bright red. She was kind of adorable when she got flustered. He took one of her hands under the table, then leaned his head against her shoulder once more. "I want to stay here."

Liana lashed her tail in a slow motion. "What about this one?" She passed the datapad, now showing some tropical-looking Outer Rim world, across to Meena.

"Oooh! That looks perfect!"

Kara turned her head to sneak a peek at the datapad. "Oh my.... I've never actually seen an ocean. We vote for that one!"

"We?" Renn asked, not raising his head.

"You gave me your proxy. Deal with it."

He squeezed her hand, amused. "Yeah, I guess I can deal with seeing you in a swimsuit."

Kara blinked. "I have to buy one first."

Meena was in her element. "Shopping trip!"

Liana and Ori traded an amused look over her head.

***

Loraan Nura sat at a long table. Around the oaken circle were the seven other Overbosses of the Exchange. No one else was allowed in the room. No bodyguards, no servants. To the Exchange, this conference room was hallowed ground. This was the highest tier of the organization. _Or it will be, until I make my move,_ he thought with a grin. The money he'd made from Ket's backdoor over the last two days had awakened old dreams.

Like all the Overbosses, Nura had cast longing glances at the one empty seat at the table, the seat belonging to whoever had the leverage, the power... whoever was the Boss of Bosses.

There hadn't been one of those in generations. The galaxy was just too big, too chaotic, too multifaceted for one man to bring together that many disparate elements into a solid and unassailable power base. But cash... cash made anything possible.

Right now, Sakor Meed was talking. Meed was a Quarren, and Nura hated Quarrens on principle. Too many facial tentacles. They looked like a bowl of noodles crossed with some demonic sea beast of legend, but not quite so pleasant. And then, there was the smell... ugh.

"And I want to be the first to congratulate Boss Nura," the ugly stinkpot gargled on, "who has amassed a staggering fortune in a remarkably short time frame...."

Yes, he had, hadn't he? Nura smiled. Maybe squid-face wasn't so bad.

"Of course," Meed said, "this comes at a time when all the rest of us have noticed an unusual uptick in the amount of interference in our affairs by the Republic, the Hutts... even the Sith."

_Not my fault you run a sloppy ship,_ Nura thought.

Boss Qui spoke up from the opposite side of the table. "I've had six separate operations closed down by Republic Justicars. _Six!_ All of them running in isolated portions of my network, none of them interconnected, except...."

"Yes," Boss Orndu said, with the almost serpentine hiss of a Ho'Din. "Half my narcotics circles have been severed, all in the last two days. All by the Hutts, and all operations connected to...."

Meed waved these away. "Yes, I know." He turned to the still beaming Loraan Nura. "How much _did_ you sell us out for, Nura?"

Wait, what?

Time slowed as the other seven Bosses all drew weapons. In that final, horrible instant, Nura understood. Orndu's narcotics... Nura helped launder those profits. Qui dealt mainly in weapons and other exportable black market goods, but once again, Nura washed Qui's money, just as Qui and Orndu washed his. That was the nature of the Exchange, after all. But that was all done in deep secret, under assumed names with accounts protected by the tightest security....

Through the data center on Brentaal IV... which had been broken into by....

As the blasters roared, Loraan Nura saw the smirking, arrogant face of Taeren Ket in his mind's eye, and it came clear. The backdoor. In connecting it to his own systems, it had somehow taken all those secret records and delivered them up to the Exchange's rivals. But not his. Only his fellow Bosses had felt the sting.

That clever basta-

***

The sounds of the gentle waves breaking on the pristine white sand beach gently caressed the ear, the bright sun warmed the sand beneath their feet and the gleaming turquoise of the sea seemed to calm their very souls.

The Outer Rim world of Dewn was as far from the hustle and bustle of the past few weeks as the crew of the Wanderer could ask.

Liana, Ori, and Aeron sat around a small round wooden table, under a wide umbrella, while Kara and Meena laid on reclining loungers under the warm sun. Renn, in deference to his tendency to burn if he so much as looked at a picture of a sun, sat on the lee side of Kara's lounger, tinkering with his ever-present datapad.

Ori lifted a large mug carved from a native gourd and filled with a pungent fruity liquor. "For a bunch of amateurs and idealists... y'all did all right."

"Wow, Mom," Renn said. "High praise."

"Kara, dear?" Ori asked.

Kara didn't even open her eyes, yet she unerringly smacked her palm lightly against the back of Renn's head.

"Hey! Sure, hit the person recovering from a head injury...."

Meena giggled. "I like her, Rennie. You should keep her."

Aeron chuckled and rose to his feet. "I think I'll take a quick swim." He shed his robe. 

Ori let out a low, appreciative whistle.

"What was that?" Meena asked, craning her head around and lifting the small sunglasses from her eyes. "Oh, oh my...!"

That prompted Renn and Kara to look as well.

It was easy to pass Aeron off as a bookish, somewhat naive young man. It was easy to forget that he'd spent his life honing his body as well as his mind. His muscles were ripcord lean and moved beneath his skin in rippling waves. There was not one ounce of extraneous fat on him.

"Any takers?" he asked them all in a jovial voice.

"Damn, Jedi," Ori said. "If I were ten years younger...."

Renn rolled his eyes, grumbled, and went back to his datapad, studiously ignoring all of them.

"You know," Kara said, "you made a big deal about wanting to ogle me in this... outfit. And now you're buried in.... What _are_ you doing?" She reached for his datapad.

"Hey!" He moved it away from her hands.

Which only made it easier for Meena to pluck it from his fingers. She glanced at the screen. "Why, Renn Falani! You're looking for freight jobs!"

"That does it." Kara stood up and grabbed the collar of Renn's shirt, pulling him to his feet. "We are taking a walk."

"But- but-"

"Unless," she said, letting go of him and giving him a loaded glance over her shoulder, "you'd rather stay here, and attempt equal satisfaction maximizing the cargo density to fuel consumption ratio on a load of... what was it, Meena?"

"Root vegetables," the Twi'lek said, giggling.

Kara smiled and continued on down the strand.

Renn stood there for a moment, staring after her.

Meena leaned over and said in a stage whisper, "Rennie, she wants you to follow her." She rolled her eyes. "You are so dense." 

He glowered at her, and went after Kara.

After he was gone, Ori sighed. "I love him but, by the Force, that boy is so bloody clueless sometimes...." 

Liana laughed in agreement.

Meena seemed to notice that she'd been abandoned. She set Renn's datapad down beside her lounge chair. "I'm going to go join Aeron and cool off!" She took note of her forearm. "I think I'm starting to turn blue." The young woman flounced off to join the Jedi in the shallows.

Liana turned to Ori after Meena had departed. "So, what are your plans next?"

"I should probably get home soon," Ori said.

"Is it safe for you now?"

"Better be. That was the whole point of this exercise."

Liana nodded. "You'd be welcome to stay a little longer with us, if you'd like." She hesitated. "I know that you just got Renn back. I don't want to be the one to take him away from you again, if that's what he chooses."

"I know he's alive. I got him back, Liana. I know you understand what that means. It's why I'm happy saying that as long as he has you, he has family with him." Ori sighed and watched her son walk around a bend in the beach and disappear from view. "That's enough for me."

***

Renn caught up with Kara around a bend in the shore, where she'd stopped to wait for him in an isolated nook, away from prying eyes. 

"What was that about?" he asked. Between his _mother_ making comments about Aeron, and the teasing about the datapad, he was feeling humiliated.

Kara smiled up at him, eyes flashing with mischief. "It was about getting some alone time with the cutest slicer in the Outer Rim."

It was really tough to stay mad at her when she looked at him like that, but he stood his ground. "Oh, is _that_ why you embarrassed me?"

She tried to make herself as small as she could. Eyes on the sand, she said, "In my defense, you _were_ very intent on your root vegetables...."

Wait. Renn's irritation evaporated as he realized they were getting their wires crossed, sparking off each other's emotions. Again. "Hey," he said. "Look at me." He raised her chin with one hand, so she would have to meet his gaze.

"Trust me," he said, looking into her eyes, "I definitely noticed." He leaned in to kiss her gently, pulling her close.

***

Aeron floated on his back, looking up into the azure sky, supported by crystalline blue water. He was surrounded by the color of hope and peace, and he drank with his eyes.

In the corner of his awareness, he noticed the approach of a playful presence, and a moment later, a small wave of water that had nothing to do with nature washed over his face.

Meena straightened up from splashing him and grinned, standing hip deep in the water nearby. "You looked lonely, so I thought I'd keep you company," she said. "What are you thinking so hard about?"

He could feel a bit of an itch across the Force bond he shared with Renn and Kara. Oh, wonderful, he thought. This was perfect timing. He was alone in the surf with an extremely attractive and scantily-clad Twi'lek girl whom he found both charming and fascinating, and his best friends were about to.... He slammed the door on _that_ thought.

"Oh, hello, Meena," he said, trying to look natural while he wished the water was a bit _colder._ "I was thinking about... well, I suppose... Jedi things."

She blinked at him in concern. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes." He sighed. "I'm sorry, Meena. You seem to be the instrument by which fate is playing a bit of a prank on me." He was now crouching low in the water, hoping he wouldn't have to stand up anytime soon.

Shaking that thought away, too, he changed the subject. "In our short time together, you've become a dear friend."

"Oh," Meena said, realization dawning on her face. "Oh." She stared at him for a moment, eyes wide. "Aeron, you're really sweet, and I like you a lot, but I'm sorry, I- I'm not...." Flustered, she fled back toward the table where Ori and Liana were still sitting.

Aeron sat there, blinking in confusion. "Neither was I...."

***

Two bodies moved together with one purpose.

One need.

One rhythm.

One Song.

For a single, transcendent moment, Renn thought he could hear it as his lover did. Two melodies rising and twining around each other in harmony and counterpoint to become one, finding balance without either being subsumed.

It was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard, and gone so fast that it left him aching to hear it again.

When he could breathe again, when he and Kara lay curled around each other in weary contentment, he asked, "Is that what you hear all the time?"

She was quiet for so long before she answered that he was afraid she had fallen asleep. "You heard something?"

"I think so. Just a little bit." He hesitated. "I think you shared it with me. Kind of like your pool."

"Oh," she breathed.

"It was beautiful."

"I'm glad." There was joy in her voice, but he felt something warm and wet fall on his chest. She was crying.

"Hey," he said, stroking her hair, "what's wrong, farm girl?"

"Nothing." She hugged him tight and buried her face against his neck and shoulder. "Nothing at all." 

He realized that they were tears of happiness.

Renn looked at her in wonder, amazed that she was even here with him after everything he'd put her through.

Something had always stopped him from admitting his feelings before. But here, in this quiet moment, in the comfortable warmth of Kara's embrace, he thought he might be able to say it, before he lost his nerve.

"Kara, I'm done lying to myself, and to you," he said, close to her ear. "I spent so much time focused on revenge and anger that I couldn't see what I had right in front of me. I know you deserve better than a no-name spacer. I know I've caused you a lot of pain, and I know how incredibly selfish I am."

He took a deep breath and pressed on. "But I think just being around you makes me better. I don't have words for it. I don't understand it." He chuckled. "And I really don't know what you're doing to me, but I want you to keep doing it, for as long as you want to."

He kissed the top of her head. "I think it's always been you. It just took me a long time to figure it out."

She nestled close against him. When she finally spoke, there was nothing but warmth in her voice. "It took _us_ a long time to figure it out. That's what our bond is, I think. Not the reason it exists, but what it is. You and I, both reaching out and finding ourselves in each other."

"You might be right." He kissed her hair again. "I keep expecting to wake up any minute now," he said. "It hardly feels real sometimes. Not just this, not just us, but... being free of everything. The Exchange, the secrets, the lies. I don't know where to go from here."

Kara laughed. "That's easy, spacer boy." She rolled over onto her back and pointed up. "We go up there, into that endless, beautiful sky."

Renn looked, not where she was pointing, but at her face, committing it to memory in this moment. He reached out a hand to gently caress her cheek. As long as he was able to see that smile and that laughter in her eyes, he would go anywhere she wanted.


End file.
